


So I Don't Hate You

by annies_hoodie



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2018-11-02 15:08:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 42,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10947060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annies_hoodie/pseuds/annies_hoodie
Summary: Annie works at a coffee shop and tries to skate by doing as little work as possible. She hates people and customers are no exception. And guess what? They hate her too. Annie's had a shit day at work, until a girl in a red scarf stops in. She tips Annie (an unprecedented event) and orders Annie's favorite thing to make: black coffee. Fate begins to work it's magic and their paths cross more than once, until one day the girl starts working at the coffee shop with Annie and they kinda sorta click (though neither will admit it). Begrudgingly, Annie realizes she might not hate everyone after all.





	1. Chapter 1

“What’s your name? I want to speak to a manager,” the woman said, pointing a poorly manicured finger at Annie’s face. Her eyebrows were furrowed comically and her hoop earrings shook with every jab of her finger. It was all Annie could do not to punch her out, right then and there.

“No,” Annie said, her tone even. The woman’s perfume smelled horrid and she was a huge bitch and Annie knew her manager Levi would hate this woman just as much as she did, so she saw no use in her speaking to the manager.

“E-excuse me?!” the woman sputtered, so used to getting her way that the very notion of not getting able to see a manager was setting her entire world on fire and spinning her life out of control. Her astonishment at the word “no” was replaced by sheer rage within a moment.

“YOU LET ME SPEAK TO THE MANAGER, RIGHT. NOW.” She looked about ready to throw her purse at Annie. Annie would LOVE to see her try.

If the woman thought she was going to get something out of this dumb exchange by talking to Levi, then whatever. Annie would go get Levi and the woman would probably just get more pissed. Which would be hilarious. So she decided to do it.

“Okay, wait,” Annie said with such an air of indifference that she thought the already seething woman would combust into flames.

She slid her hands into her hoodie pocket under her apron as she exited from behind the counter, making her way towards the back room where Levi’s tiny office area was. The door was already open and Annie was met with the sight of Levi staring at the security monitor, apparently having been intently engrossed in the issue Annie was having with the customer. He regularly did this. Annie’s suffering was a great source of entertainment for him.

“Where did Annie go…” he muttered. “Ah, oh well.”

“I’m right here, Levi,” Annie said, crossing her arms. “That lady wants to talk to you.”

“Ugh,” he huffed, lazily spinning to face her in his chair. “PLEASE, no.”

Levi closed his eyes and ran a hand down his face before holding the bridge of his nose for a moment. Finally, he sighed and looked back up at Annie. “Why does she want to see me.”

“She wants a refund for her coffee because she “doesn’t like it”,” Annie explained, making air quotes. “Yet, when I opened her cup, at least three quarters of it was gone. Didn’t like it my ass. I told her no refund and she became irate. Said, ‘it wouldn’t kill you to refund me’ with a nice bitchy tone. Didn’t bother explaining the idiocy of her logic to her, it’d be wasted. She asked to see you and I said no.”

“Good job,” Levi interjected.

“Thank you. But, she keeps pressing, so you have to go talk to her.” Annie said.

“For fuck’s sake, this is so goddamn stupid. I’m not giving her a damn refund. Ugh. Okay fine, I’ll take care of it. Let’s go,” he said, rising from his chair as Annie led the way out.

“Here he is,” Annie murmured as she walked past the woman, going back behind the counter.

“Here I am,” Levi said to the woman, not bothering to conceal his annoyance.

_This is going to be good_ , Annie thought as she began to pretend to wipe down the espresso machine.

“First of all, your coffee is horrible. Second of all, your employee is beyond rude,” the woman began, sending a pointed look towards Annie who stopped pretending to clean to give her an impassive stare.

Levi leaned against the counter. “Go on.”

“I wanted a refund because the coffee was gross and I didn’t want it. Your employee not only refused to give me a refund, but at first denied me from speaking to you. As if she had any power! Kids these days are just terrible, I feel so bad for you having an employee like her.”

Levi had begun to grow more and more pissed off. And jesus, what kind of perfume did this woman have on? It smelled like overpowering floral shit. It reminded Levi of a funeral or something.

_How fitting,_ he thought, _since I feel like I’m dying right now._

"And what would you like to see resolved from this situation?” Levi asked, not that he gave a shit about what she had to say, but just for fun.

“A refund, a free drink coupon for my trouble, and HER,” she nodded her head towards Annie, “to be reprimanded, or better yet, fired!”

Levi leveled the woman with an irritated stare. “No.”

“NO!?” the woman repeated back incredulously, still apparently not used to the word. Annie could have sworn she even saw her take a step back.

“Absolutely not,” Levi confirmed. “In fact, I’m kicking you out. You come in and insult our coffee, which you claim you didn’t like despite nearly finishing your own cup, insult my employee, try to pull a fast one on her, and THEN you had the audacity to think that I would throw her under the bus and give you whatever you wanted. You’ve pissed me off in multiple ways, and I am very annoyed that I even have to waste my breath on you. Get out.”

 “THE NERVE!” the woman yelled, stomping her foot. “THE GALL!”

 “Yeah, I’ve heard it all before. Leave,” Levi said.

 The woman opened her mouth a few times but seemed unable to find words, retreating as she tried her best to shoot intimidating looks at Levi and Annie. “This isn’t over. I’m writing a TERRIBLE review online and I WON’T be telling any of my friends to come here.”

 “Thank god,” Levi said, turning around and throwing a hand up as a half-hearted wave before retreating back into his office, having reached his total capacity for human interaction for the day.

 The woman huffed in frustration as she slammed the door behind her, causing the “open/closed” sign to crash to the floor and burn out.

 Annie brightened up almost instantly. _If there is no open sign, technically we should be…_

 “No, we’re not closing. Suck it up and finish you shift,” Levi called from the back.

  _Fuck. He must have gotten right back to watching the monitor._ Annie turned to the camera positioned in the corner of the store and flipped him off before going to grab her book and finish reading, before she had been so rudely interrupted by the customer from hell.

 The coffee shop was rarely, if ever, busy. It was relatively small and had no drive-thru, and most of their customers seemed to be regulars, in their 40’s and up, preferring to order their drinks and chat among themselves rather than bothering her. All of this was totally fine by Annie. It meant less interaction for her and less work, in a quiet setting ideal for reading when she ran out of things to do, which was often. You could only clean things so many times, and Annie got done with these trivial duties pretty quickly, though technically she really didn’t have to bother. No matter how okay Annie thought the place looked, Levi would always have something to complain about, and (after hours) would get all suited up in his ridiculous cleaning gear, mask and all, and sanitize the shit out of the place. So, Annie wasn’t about to go above and beyond if he was impossible to please and apparently willing to do all the work anyway.

 Annie supposed she kind of liked making the drinks, but she couldn’t do latte art for shit and it pissed her off when people requested it. Because first of all, they weren’t even a fancy type of coffee shop. So why the fuck would people be asking for that crap. Second of all, Annie had lost count of how many times she’d tried to create even a simple leaf design and had failed miserably each and every try. She didn’t know what was so great about making pictures out of steamed milk anyway (though her opinion would probably be different if she could actually do it).

  
And Annie hated frozen frappes, too. Those things could burn in hell as far as Annie was concerned. Annie also hated specialty lattes, pour overs, pots of tea, and getting bakery for people. Basically, Annie hated everything except when people ordered just plain black coffee and left promptly. That way,  she only had to do the bare minimum and definitely didn’t have to worry about making some special design for them.

 She glanced at the clock and saw that she only had a little over fifteen minutes left, which made her very happy. All the sooner she could get out of here, go to Muay Thai class, and then chill out at home watching a movie or something.

 But as soon as Annie sat down on the bar stool she kept behind the counter, the door chime rang and two guys came in. Annie tried her best not to roll her eyes, not yet getting up from her seat.

 "I don’t know what I want,” the kid with the brown hair was saying.

 “Try one of the frozen frappes! They are so good,” his blonde friend with the (in Annie’s opinion) crap haircut said.

  _Fucking shit...don’t order the frappe. I don’t feel like bending down to get the ice, or cleaning the blender._

 Annie knew this type of customer. They’d take forever to decide, and when she did eventually get up, they’d have questions and then start all over deciding on what they want. She always had to resist the urge to tell them that the beverage descriptions were listed right under the beverage title. Or maybe they were illiterate or something. No, it couldn’t be that. Because they could always damn well read the price when they were complaining it was too expensive.

 “Well I don’t want anything with expresso in it,” the brown haired guy said.

 Annie cringed inwardly. _It’s espresso, you fuck._

 “Oh, it’s actually called espresso, Eren! And that’s okay, there’s a lot of options that don’t involve espresso. Like the frappe!” his friend explained cheerily.

  _Jesus...maybe he should have my job. He’s friendlier and he won’t stop trying to sell this damn frappe to his friend._

 “Well, okay, Armin. Hold on,” Eren said, looking around for the barista, who was tucked into the corner hoping she could suddenly gain powers of invisibility.

 When he spotted her, his face lit up. “Hey! I have a question!”

  _Of course you do! Why wouldn’t you have a question? I’d be absolutely shocked if you didn’t._

 Annie made a point of closing her book before she took her time rising out of her seat and walking over to Eren and Armin.

 “What’s the question?” she said, trying her best to sound disinterested and as if she had important things to attend to. Which, Annie figured, was kind of true. She _was_ at a really good chapter in her book.

 “What’s YOUR favorite drink?” Eren said with a grin, and Armin looked at her expectantly.

 “Why.” Annie said. Why did it matter what her favorite drink was. Who cares?

 “Because. I’ve never been here before and I’d like an expert opinion,” Eren said.

 Annie almost said “hot water”. Almost. But she decided to just tell him in an effort to speed things up.

 “White mocha with a pump of caramel. 2% milk. With whip.”

  _Fuck, Annie, why did you tell them that? Now they will want it. It is, after all, an amazing beverage._

 “That sounds overly sweet and gross,” Eren said.

_Excuse me? You fucking asked._

 “Eren is just joking around. He kind of likes drinks that are sweet, but not to sweet. And no espresso. Also, he hates coffee,” Armin tried to explain, but it only served to further piss Annie off.

 “Then what is he doing in a coffee shop?” Annie deadpanned.

 They looked at each other stupidly. Annie figured they’d probably never had a barista talk to them like that. But Annie could get away with a lot of shit here. Besides, she was only one of four baristas. Her co-workers were friendly as can be. If they wanted to be placated, these guys could come back another time.

 Eren looked about ready to say something back at her, but the door chimed again as another customer walked in. Already Annie began to feel anxious, because these guys were the type of people to hold up a line if it began to form. And Annie hated when a line formed.

 “You haven’t ordered yet.” The new customer, a girl, said to Armin and Eren. It wasn’t even a question, more of like a pointed statement.

 The pair exchanged a nervous glance before shaking their heads no simultaneously.

 The girl sighed, audible even behind her thick red infinity scarf. “Hurry up then. Or I’ll order for you, and you won’t like it.”

 She walked up closer to the counter, addressing Annie. “Just a coffee, please. Black. Dark roast if you have it.”

 Now _this_ was Annie’s type of customer. Straight and to the point, order simple as can be. If only they could all be like that.

 “Sure, I’ll have it right up,” Annie said as the girl moved down to the register.

 “Have you guys decided?” Annie said to Armin and Eren, with an annoyed edge to her tone.

 “I don’t kno--” Eren began before getting cut off by Armin.

 “Two mocha frappes with whipped cream, please!” Armin said with a smile.

 Annie did not smile back. “Okay,”

 Well, at least two of the same frappe was good. She could make both at once and not have to mess around with rinsing out the blender and doing a different flavor.

 She finished the drinks in what she thought to be record time, and brought them over to the counter where the register was.

 “Are you guys paying separate or together?” Annie asked.

 Eren and Armin immediately looked at the girl, who narrowed her eyes at them as she reached into her purse and pulled out a credit card.

  _Wow, she’s even using a card so I don’t have to make the effort of dealing with change. Cool._

 “THANKS MIKASA!” Eren and Armin chorused, grabbing their drinks and leaving the store in a flash.

Annie handed Mikasa’s credit card back.

 “Bye,” Annie said flatly. _Please get out now so I can do closing stuff._

 Mikasa dug around in her purse and pulled out three singles, throwing them into Annie’s empty tip jar. “Bye.”

 Annie could barely contain her astonishment. As soon as the door chime confirmed Mikasa’s exit, she picked up the tip jar and gazed at the three singles inside. She had gotten a _tip_? This was unprecedented.

“Wow, Annie, someone actually liked you. Or she felt bad for you and your pathetic lack of tips,” Levi called from the back.

 “Stop watching me on the monitor!” Annie yelled.

She thought she heard Levi say no, but decided not to call him on it.

 “Hmm,” Annie hummed to herself, stuffing the three singles in her hoodie pocket under her apron _. I’ve been working here for about a year now and have made maybe a total of seven dollars in tips, including these three singles I just got._

 Annie did not expect tips at all because she was fully aware that she was a dick to most customers. It made her wonder all the while more why that girl, Mikasa, apparently, had given her such a nice tip. Levi’s comment about her feeling bad for Annie was probably the most accurate judgment.

 Content with that, Annie’s phone alarm went off signaling that it was time to close. Annie nearly jumped over the counter racing to lock the door. She definitely saw people coming towards the shop but she absolutely wasn’t about to stay longer to deal with them. Closed means closed, last minute customers be damned. Besides, Annie had a set of gloves and punching bag calling her name down the street.

 “I didn’t know you were into parkour,” came Levi’s voice from the back.

 “Okay, that’s it,” Annie said, grabbing a large coffee cup from the counter. She marched up to where the camera was perched in the corner, pushed the table nearest to it right up underneath it, and stood up on it, sliding the coffee cup right over the camera. It was a perfect fit. She’d have to do this more often.

 She _almost_ smiled as she heard Levi’s surprised “ _Hey_!” from his office.


	2. Chapter 2

“Don’t go kicking my bag off the hinges, Leonhart,” the coach teased after Annie landed a particularly sharp spinning back kick to a punching bag, swinging wildly from it’s chain after her lethal impact. 

Annie looked up as she heard the support beam creak a little bit, giving herself a mental pat on the back for her power and precision before stepping forward to steady the bag. For the hour and a half, she had been beating the utter shit out of the bag, channeling all her annoyance at the rude customer from earlier into every kick, jab and punch. It was probably time to give it a rest and stretch, more for the bag’s sake than Annie’s. She could probably do this all night if she was given the opportunity, but she knew it was getting late and the coach needed to close up soon.

The gym was kind of old, and wasn’t decked out with the newest, state-of-the-art equipment like larger, more popular gyms were. But this one was small and everyone kept to themselves, so Annie really didn’t mind the lack of professional grade stuff. Plus, the coach let her have the gym to herself sometimes after hours, and he understood Annie’s sarcasm and never annoyed her by forcing small talk or anything. She couldn’t say the same for literally any other gym she’d tried out before she’d struck gold with this one.

“Maybe it’s time to install some stronger equipment,” Annie said to the coach as she methodically began to run through her list of post workout stretches.

“Nah. My stuff is fine. Can’t say the same for your gloves,” he commented, catching a glimpse at Annie’s beaten up pair she had cast aside.

Annie glanced at her gloves before reaching for her toes, feeling the burn in her arms and legs.. “They’re fine.”

They were the complete opposite of fine.The gloves looked like they had been tossed into the street and ran over a few times before being attacked by a wild animal or something.

The strap on the left hand glove was barely hanging on, despite Annie’s numerous DIY attempts to breathe life back into the overused velcro. The material on the outside was battered and worn, weathered from countless hours of use. They had no bounce when Annie hit a surface, and there was no shock absorption left to speak of. She supposed she really was lucky that she hadn’t severely hurt her knuckles or wrists yet. Her only saving grace was her hand wraps. She invested in good quality material and was diligent with making sure her hands were wrapped correctly and comfortably before putting her gloves on. That her wallet could handle- even the highest quality wraps maxed out at fifteen, maybe twenty bucks. But gloves? Annie knew she’d be looking at at  _ least _ forty dollars for a nice quality pair.

To a normal person, Annie realized, forty dollars might not sound like that much. But since Annie lived alone (by her own volition), the monthly cost of rent didn’t leave much room for spending money. She was fully aware that having roommates would be a much more fiscally responsible way to live, seeing as they could all split the cost of rent, but Annie wasn’t about to give up her sanity and independence just to save some money. No amount of extra pocket cash was worth dealing with other people’s noise...their habits, friends they’d inevitably bring over, their prying questions, pestering comments... _ sharing a bathroom _ ...it made Annie shudder just thinking about living with other people. No amount of extra pocket money was worth the special kind of hell that was living with roommates.

For the time being, Annie knew the gloves would have to wait. Especially since she  _ might _ have overspent a little this month and bought herself an air popper for popcorn - the microwaveable stuff had been pissing her off lately; too much fake flavorings for her taste. And popcorn was a must-have companion for Annie when she had her solo movie marathons. She resolved to get gloves next month, after seeing how much money she had left after all the necessities had been paid for. Until then, she’d make do with her crappy pair.

The coach raised a skeptical brow at her, crossing his arms with a sigh. “Okay. Well, when you finish up I’m locking the place up for the night, so just knock on my office door when you’re leaving.”

“Sounds good,” Annie said, her voice strained as she did some tricep stretches. Annie wasn’t one to meander after she’d finished her stretching and cleaned/put away all the stuff she’d used.. Once her feet left the mats and stepped into the locker room, it never took her more than ten minutes to shower, towel off and put on some fresh clothes before heading home. Today was no exception, as Annie wrapped things up quickly after stretching and was ready to leave a little after nine-thirty.

“Heading out,” she called as she whisked past the coach’s office, giving it a bump with her fist as she made her way outside, and getting a muffled “have a good night!” in response.

As she heard the main doors close behind her, Annie almost sighed in contentment as she leisurely strolled towards her car. A brisk evening breeze washed over her face, still flushed from the intense pace she had been keeping while working out. Dusk had settled a while ago, and Annie reveled in the inky black of the sky, illuminated by scattered sparkles and the serene calm of the moon. The muted glow of the street lights gave her a comforting feeling that the sun never could, and the cool temperature was a refreshing contrast from the stuffiness of the locker room she had freshened up in.

She found herself wishing that it could be dark outside all the time. The sunlight seemed to have the opposite effect on her than it did on most people. For the general population, warm, sunny weather meant fun. Tanning, swimming, picnics; families and friends congregating outside to laugh and cook and enjoy each other’s company. It all made Annie sick, how happy they were. It was like they couldn’t enjoy themselves if they, god forbid, had to stay inside and find something to do. The moment the sun peeked out from behind the clouds, it seemed like everyone and their damn mother just had to find an excuse to loiter outside. Maybe it was a biological predisposition or something. Like, everyone had a subconscious need to soak up Vitamin D at every opportunity. 

That in itself wasn’t that horrible of a sin, Annie surmised. Maybe the annoying part was when people did a menial task or activity outside and acted like it was the fucking pinnacle of their week. She was reminded of this almost daily at work, when customers would gush about the walks they took over the weekend, how they were just  _ so happy to get out _ as if someone was holding them prisoner in their homes any other day of the week that it wasn’t seventy degrees or up and sunny. Like, good for you? Annie didn’t give a shit. When she woke up and saw the sun she’d promptly close the shades. 

Night time was the best. People didn’t go out then. Families had to get their kids in bed, old people couldn’t see when driving at night, and people were generally scared to be out late because they could get murdered or something. All of this was great for Annie. It meant less people at the grocery store, no one on the streets, no noise. Just calm. And it was an added bonus that the temperature dropped at night. Humidity was Annie’s sworn enemy; it made it very difficult for her to survive in her comfy hoodies. Luckily, it was starting to transition into the milder season of fall so Annie wouldn’t have to worry about the hot air and bright, sunny days much longer. When everyone else hibernated in fall and winter, that’s when Annie thrived. Especially that little window right in between the two seasons, when it’s too cold for a normal person to be doing stuff like biking or landscaping or, but not quite cold enough to snow yet. Annie could actually go to the park, pick out any bench she wanted and read in peace, because no one else in their right mind would go out and lounge during that time of year. She always took care to operate the opposite way that most people did; that way she could keep her human interactions to a minimum and ensure a peaceful, quiet and quality life for herself.

Annie began fumbling for her keys in her bag, making a mental note to keep them in a separate pocket from all the other shit she had in her bag. Even though she knew they were in there somewhere, there was always a part of her that thought she’d maybe left them at the gym or something when she couldn’t immediately find them. Luckily, her fear was quelled just as soon as she thought of it, her fingers looping into the key ring as she pulled them out.

To her surprise, the keys abruptly went flying as she almost lost her balance, someone crashing into her from behind.

_ What the fuck?? _

Annie dropped her bag and whirled around, ready for a fight.

* * *

One of Mikasa’s earbuds fell out as she ran smack into someone, and she immediately pulled the other one out and stuffed her music player into her pocket as she realized what had just happened.

She was ready to apologize when the person she’d hit whirled around, fists held at temple-level and at the ready.

Mikasa reflexively went into her own fight stance at the look of pure death in her unintentional victim’s eyes.

_ Wait...it’s the barista from the coffee shop earlier! _ Mikasa realized as she surveyed the girl in front of her.

_ Her hair’s wet and her cheeks are kind of red….but this is definitely her. Hm. I wonder if I could take her? Probably. She’s small. At least five inches shorter than me. Maybe more. Plus she has flip flops on. Essentially throwing mobility and any kind of kicking power out the window... _

Mikasa was pulled out of her thoughts as she realized she should probably say something to the person who had every intention of punching her in the face.

“Hey,” Mikasa said as evenly as possible, slowly lowering her hands to her sides. At least they somewhat knew each other. Mikasa hadn’t run into a murderer or anything.

The barista’s face didn’t move a muscle, and neither did her fists.  __

_ On second thought, maybe she had... _

“Hey?” she repeated to Mikasa, her eyes narrowing just a fraction in suspicion, clearly not recognizing her.

_ She serves a lot of customers every day, Mikasa. She doesn’t remember you. Use your words and communicate. _

Mikasa cleared her throat. “I apologize. My name is Mikasa. I recognize you from earlier today, at the coffee shop. I was with Eren and Armin, they got the frappes.”

The barista studied her face for a moment. Something must have clicked, because she cautiously lowered her fists and relaxed her posture a bit. “Oh. Didn’t recognize you without the scarf covering half your face.”

She gave Mikasa a once over, raising her eyebrow at her all black jogging ensemble.

“Are you going out to assassinate someone or something?”

“No,” Mikasa said, leaving it at that. She liked wearing all black on her late night jogs. It made her feel like she was apart of the night, a shadow flitting across windows, dampening out light. Blending in, silently, like a cat nimbly stalking it’s prey. Yeah, wearing white or some type of reflective gear was a hell of a lot safer, but Mikasa didn’t care about safe. She could handle herself.

The barista stared at her. “Wow, you’re convincing.”

Mikasa brushed it off, not wanting to go back and forth with the barista. But she figured it would be helpful to know her name, so she could apologize once more and get on with her run.  “What’s your name?”

The barista turned around, walking to pick up her keys that had landed a few feet away after the collision. She answered with her back to Mikasa. “Who cares?”

_ I don’t actually care, it’s just for formality’s sake, obviously. Don’t make it difficult. _

“Just tell me your name,” Mikasa pressed firmly.

The barista scoffed, strolling back over to Mikasa as she picked up her bag. She sighed, exasperated, as she fixed her with a droll stare. “Fine. It’s Annie.”

She said it as if it had taken a great deal of effort to divulge the information. Like Mikasa had asked her opinion on the meaning of life or something. She briefly wondered what it would actually be like to ask Annie the meaning of life if it had strained her _ that much _ just to give out her name. Based on how this brief conversation (if you could call it that) had been going so far, Mikasa figured it would involve a whole lot of bored looks, sarcastic comments, and/or silence.

Mikasa nodded. “Okay, Annie. I’m sorry for running into you. Have a good rest of your night.”

She side-stepped Annie, digging into her pockets to pull out her earbuds again, but stopped halfway from putting them in when Annie interrupted her.

“Hold on.”

Mikasa turned, waiting.

“I was wondering why you tipped me three dollars earlier. I mean, thank you. But why? Not that it matters,” Annie trailed off, breaking eye contact with Mikasa.

Mikasa blinked, trying to remember if there had been a specific reason for the tip. She usually tipped well, but she supposed three dollars was exceptional. And she really had only ordered a black coffee so it’s not like Annie had hand-crafted a beverage for her or anything that would warrant such a good tip. And then she remembered the pair she had met there: her best friends Eren and Armin. Yep. She know how those two could get, Eren with his indecisiveness and Armin with his sometimes over the top cheeriness. They had left a full ten minutes before Mikasa and still did not have their drink orders ready by the time she arrived at the shop, so she figured that must have been annoying for Annie to deal with and tipped accordingly to smooth things over.

“I suspected that Eren and Armin had annoyed you, so I guess it was a peace offering of some sorts. A thank you,” Mikasa said, hoping that answer sufficed. Annie’s expression didn’t really change at all at Mikasa’s response, so she waited a few seconds more to see if Annie was going to say anything else.

_ Okay…. _

Mikasa tugged her sleeves down a little more as a ripple of a breeze passed by, making her shiver just a bit. She needed to get running again to warm herself up, but she once again stopped herself when she saw Annie shiver too.

Eren had just gotten over a cold and he had been miserable. Though, Mikasa suspected that he milked his recovery time so that she’d keep making sure he was comfortable. She had made sure to prepare hot tea to soothe his sore throat, made sure he had extra blankets to prevent the chills, and even made soup to help him along to a speedy recovery. Even though there was a pretty high chance he had been over-exaggerating some of the symptoms, Mikasa still hated to see him not feeling 100%. She hated to see anyone sick, and the protective part of her didn’t like seeing Annie in the chilly weather with wet hair. So she had to fix it.

_ Hopefully she doesn’t punch me in the face for this.   _

She closed the distance between her and Annie and yanked the other girl’s hoodie over her wet hair, somewhat unceremoniously. She hadn’t had enough time to figure out a graceful, not-awkward way to do it, but at least her head was protected from the chill now.

Annie didn’t look mad so much as mildly surprised at the move, but she did scowl at Mikasa shortly thereafter. “What the hell?”

Mikasa shrugged. “Your hair is wet. You’ll catch a cold, so I put your hood on for you.”

“I could have done it myself, you know,” Annie said.

“Yeah, I know,” Mikasa said, leaving out the “ _ but you didn’t so I did _ ” part that she wanted to add on. She had to get going though, as this exchange had already lasted longer than expected and she seriously wanted to warm up and finish her run. She put her earbuds back in and walked past Annie. “See you around.”

She didn’t hear Annie reply as she walked away, so she turned up her music and returned to her medium-paced jog, eager to feel the burn as she pressed onward.

* * *

Annie stared at Mikasa’s back as she disappeared into the night, shaking her head and yanking her hood off in one motion. What a weirdo that Mikasa was.

_ Wearing all black in the late hours of the evening, running into me, putting my hood on for me. I ought to kick her ass for coming near me. _

Which left Annie wondering why she  _ hadn’t  _ kicked her ass. If it had been anyone else she would have had a few choice words for them for running into her, but Mikasa hadn’t gotten her usual treatment. She figured it was probably because she was tired from working out and didn’t feel like starting something. And the accident didn’t seem intentional anyway. But it was a damn inconvenience. Annie probably could’ve been home by now if Mikasa hadn’t almost bowled her over. And seriously, the outfit thing was bothering Annie. What if she got hit by a car or something, head to toe in black like that? What a dumbass.

Annie got into her car, and turned her key, almost yelling “FUCK!” as her speakers blared to life, scaring the crap out of her. She had forgotten,  _ again _ , to turn down the music volume when she’d turned off her car. This happened at least twice weekly.

_ Thank god Mikasa hadn’t seen that. _

Annie shook it off and slowly backed out of the parking lot, heading towards her place.

_ So that tip was a thank you,  _ she thought, thinking back on Mikasa’s answer to her question.

_ That means I can tell Levi it was for a reason other than feeling sorry for me.  _ Which was great, because she always loved an opportunity to prove Levi wrong.

_ And if Mikasa ever comes back to the shop and tips me again, I can really rub it in his face. _

So maybe Annie was hoping she’d come again. Just so she could show up her boss and take that glorious tip money Mikasa was apparently so willing to give. And  _ maybe _ so she could make one more joke about her jogging attire. Just maybe. 


	3. Chapter 3

Even though they were all the same age, sometimes Mikasa felt like she was Eren and Armin’s mom. Today was one of those days, as Mikasa sat idly sipping a bottle of water, monitoring the pair as they played frisbee on the plaza at the university campus they all attended. If Mikasa hadn’t been watching them, by now they would have:

  1. Threw the frisbee right into Mikasa and Armin’s Geology professor’s face (Mikasa had intercepted it just in time, saving the professor a trip to the campus nurse’s office and probably both their GPA’s)
  2. Fell into the fountain in middle of the plaza (Mikasa had foreseen this event as Eren had continued to back peddle right up to  the fountain, his eyes focused upward at the incoming frisbee; she had saved him by giving him a pointed push forward with one hand and catching the frisbee in the other)



 They would also be late to class if Mikasa didn’t break up their game within the next 30 seconds. She found herself wondering what they would do without her. Mikasa’s expression barely changed as she watched Armin accidentally launch the frisbee straight into Eren’s forehead. Instead, she let out a sigh.

_Honestly speaking, they’d probably be dead without me._

 Mikasa zipped open her backpack and dug around for the cold pack she kept in it, finding it hidden underneath her first aid kit. She had to use the items more often than she’d like, but after finding herself in one too many situations with an injured Eren and/or Armin, she’d taken to carrying around a small medical facility with her at all times.

 Cold pack in hand, Mikasa promptly crossed over to where Eren was standing, rubbing his forehead in pain as Armin apologized profusely. Mikasa took his hand and pressed the cold pack to his forehead before placing his hand back on it to hold it in place.

 “You guys are going to be late for class if you don’t leave right now,” Mikasa said, checking her watch. It was 11:55 AM and their class started at 12, and the lecture hall was at least ten minutes away. “I’d suggest running.”

 “Thanks, mom,” Eren said sarcastically, throwing the cold pack at her. Mikasa was quick to catch it.

 “You’ll need this if you don’t want a welt there, Eren,” Mikasa said, throwing it back at him with a little bit of force.

 “Jeez! Are you trying to give me more injuries?” Eren grumbled, picking up the pack from the ground.

 “No. Just listen to me, okay? Have I ever been wrong before?” Mikasa pointed out, waiting for a rebuttal that she knew was impossible to come up with.

 Eren looked defeated for a few moments before Armin spoke up. “You have! Remember when you denied that you thought Professor Ral was attractive? And then we clearly saw you blush an intense shade of red when she made eye contact with you as you handed in your exam?”

 “Yes! I definitely remember that happening,” Eren agreed, enthusiastic that Armin had proven Mikasa wrong.

 Mikasa bit the inside of her cheek, making a very conscious effort not to blush that intense shade of red Armin was speaking of right that very moment. She did _not_ think Professor Petra Ral was attractive. She just had very nice hair and pretty eyes and a cute smile that Mikasa enjoyed looking at. It didn’t mean she thought she was pretty or anything like that. And even if she did think she was pretty, it didn’t mean anything. Lots of girls thought other girls were pretty. The only reason she had blushed in class at all was because Eren and Armin had been teasing her about the alleged attraction all period prior to her handing in her exam. It was _not_ because Professor Ral had given Mikasa a smile so breathtaking her heart had skipped a beat when she had looked up after placing her test on the pile of others. No. Not at all. The very notion was ridiculous.

 “It’s funny because we just started it out as a joke teasing you but then you actually got flustered,” Armin was beginning to explain before Eren quickly nudged his shoulder, shaking his head for Armin to stop. A pissed off Mikasa was something neither of them liked to deal with, and they were already pushing their luck. Luckily, Mikasa seemed to be too stuck in her own thoughts today as the pair watched her as she seemingly was battling internal thoughts.

 “N-no, you’re wrong,” Mikasa managed to get out. She almost made a move to loosen her scarf, as it suddenly felt tight and hot around her neck. But she knew Armin and Eren would pick up on that move and determine it as a confirmation for their suspicion. _Quick, make them go away so you don’t have to discuss this anymore._ “Anyway, you have about two minutes left until class begins so you both better leave right now.”

 “Uh huh, ohhkay,” Eren couldn’t resist saying with a teasing grin, trying but failing to wink at her. “Trying to change the subject, huh?”

 Armin began pulling him by his backpack to drag him away. “Eren, let’s go, hurry!” he yelled, apparently now just realizing that they’d be at least ten minutes late to class at this point even if they sprinted.

 “Well, thanks for the cold pack even though I don’t need it. See you later!” Eren called, still wearing that maddeningly instigating smile.

 “Okay!” Mikasa said, turning her back.

 “By the way! _You’dmakeacutematchwithProfessorRal-_ \--AH!! GO GO GO!!” Eren’s teasing came to an abrupt end as Mikasa whipped around, practically burning him alive with the murderous rage in her eyes. She thought she’d never see him run so fast in his life.

 Mikasa stared them down as the pair disappeared across campus, shaking her head. The two could really get on her nerves, but she couldn’t help but love them. They had been friends since a young age, an outgoing and rambunctious Eren rounding up the bookish, quiet Armin and the reserved loner Mikasa. Because of Eren and Armin, Mikasa could say she had a fulfilled and happy childhood, something she might not have been able to say had Eren not reached out to her. She was, by nature, a very introverted person. She was in her own head a lot, constantly thinking and imagining and creating scenarios in her head, wild fantastical dreams that occupied so much of her thoughts that she never really felt the need to play with other kids. She also possessed a kind of sixth sense from an early age - she was able to sense the mood in a room and understand what others were feeling even if they didn’t say it verbally. Her ability to read people tired Mikasa out when she was young, and so she tended to close herself off to others rather than become fatigued because of her own empathetic tendencies.

 Her life at home was much different from that at school. Her parents understood her and were able to tell, without a word from Mikasa, when their daughter needed space to be with her own thoughts and feelings. But they could also differentiate between when Mikasa needed time to recharge, and when Mikasa was just plain feeling down. Her mom would coax her to help in the garden, or bake a sweet treat with her in the kitchen. Her dad would ask her to help make some repairs on his car, or go dig out old books from storage from his childhood. Nothing soothed Mikasa more than the smell of cake baking as she leafed through the thick, weathered pages of an old book. Though early on she was still too young to read at the level her father’s books were at, the feel of the pages combined with the sweet scent in the air and fresh breeze from the open windows always lifted Mikasa’s spirits, making her feel like she was in her own story book.

It always marveled Mikasa how her parents didn’t even have to ask. They just knew what her mood was and when to leave her alone or how to cheer her up. Mikasa figured that was where she got her intuition from, since the two of them were so acute to pick up on her moods without having to pry.

Mikasa had tried making friends a few times at school to no avail. She didn’t speak unless asked and didn’t willingly share information about herself unless directly prompted, so socialization wasn’t a concept that came easy to her.

Though Mikasa loved being alone more than anything, she found herself wishing she had someone to play with during recess and eat lunch with, rather than sitting wherever an empty seat was, silently eating her sandwich as the busy buzzing of the cafeteria continued to make her feel more and more closed out.

It was a miracle the day Eren and Armin had approached her at recess , plucking the book she had been reading from her hands.

Mikasa had bristled at the action, but Eren had returned the book promptly, which calmed her down. She had remembered thinking it must have been his way of getting her attention, because she had probably been so absorbed in her reading that she hadn’t heard his voice if he had been calling to her.

Eren had asked her to play tag with them, because it was getting boring with just the two of them. Mikasa had reluctantly agreed, but after having a lot of fun running with the pair, Mikasa had decided she rather liked the company of the two boys, and was secretly overjoyed when Eren asked her to sit with them at lunch from now on, declaring the three as best friends forever.

It was hard to believe that they’d be leaving her in just a few days to study abroad for a whole semester in Germany. For the first time since she was a young elementary school student, she would be back to being alone again.

Ever since the three had left their hometown on full scholarships for college (Armin and Mikasa had graduated as Valedictorian and Salutatorian with academic scholarships, while Eren had received a scholarship for wrestling), they had seen each other at least every other day, with Eren and Armin dorming together on campus, and Mikasa dorming in a single room just a few floors above them.

Without them here with her, Mikasa had all of zero friends. She just didn’t care to make any since Eren and Armin were the only company she wanted. Her life was probably going to consist of a lot of solo coffee shop trips and extra studying in the absence of her two friends.

 _Coffee shop…._ Mikasa thought, feeling a bit tired as she yawned, in need of some caffeine. Though she was done with classes for the day (she chose to get them all done in the morning unlike Eren and Armin who liked to sleep in until 10:30), she had a lot of homework to do, so she figured that a nice hot cup of dark roast would fuel her for the list of assignments that awaited her.

 

* * *

 

When Mikasa opened the door to the coffee shop, she saw that another blonde barista was working, not Annie. The rest of the shop was empty except for a brunette sitting on the coffee counter, smirking as she scrolled the screen on her phone.

“Ymir, not without Annie!” the blonde barista pleaded, stepping out from behind the counter to face a girl who was apparently named Ymir. “And get off the counter too! If my manager was here I’d be in so much trouble!”

“Krista, Annie doesn’t give a shit,” Ymir said, sliding off the counter and pulling her phone away from Krista’s reaching grasp. She sat at the table in front of the counter and clicked off her phone to appease Krista.

“That’s just what she says. She really does care,” Krista countered. Neither appeared to notice Mikasa standing in front of the register.

 Ymir scoffed. “Yeah right. It’s nothing special. She can read reviews on her own time.”

  _Read reviews? Are they arguing about reading reviews? With Annie?_

“It’s more fun when we’re all together and you know it!” Krista whined, pulling Ymir’s sleeve.

Mikasa was starting to get slightly annoyed so she decided to make her presence known, even though they really should have noticed her already. There was seriously no one else in the shop and the door chime had rang when Mikasa had walked in. _And_ she’d cleared her throat twice already to no avail. Ymir and Krista were still in their own world.

“Hey, is Annie here?” Mikasa said, facing the pair.

Krista spun around in surprise, startled at the presence of someone else in the shop before a worried expression crossed her face. “Oh no. what did she do to you? Did she say something?”

Mikasa frowned. “No.” _Does Annie usually do stuff to people?_ “No reason.”

Ymir smirked. “Some hot girl coming to see Annie? This is new. And interesting.”

Mikasa trained her eyes on Ymir with a bored look, willing her cheeks not to color as she made an effort to show her disinterest at her words. _Me? Hot?_ Ymir met her gaze for gaze, still wearing a smirk that infuriated Mikasa. Meanwhile, Krista hurried behind the counter.

“I’m sorry I didn’t see you come in,” Krista apologized. “Ymir is so loud I can’t even hear myself talking sometimes. I’m Krista, by the way.”

“I’m Mikasa,” Mikasa said. “Nice to meet you. Could I have a black dark roast please?”

“That’s gross,” Ymir commented as Krista went to pour the coffee.

“Do I care about your opinion? Not at all,” Mikasa said, not turning to look at her.

“Whoa!” Ymir began laughing, apparently entertained by Mikasa’s response. “Sorry, just trying to make friendly conversation.”

Mikasa bit back a reply as Krista came back with the coffee.

“Ymir’s definition of friendly conversation is not really the correct one,” Krista apologized, shooting a warning look at Ymir over Mikasa’s shoulder. “It’ll be $2.12 for the coffee!”

Before Mikasa had a chance to get out her wallet, Ymir came and put three singles on the counter.

“It’s on me, as a sorry for being blunt. I’m Ymir, and this is my girlfriend Krista,” Ymir pointed to Krista proudly, while Krista blushed.

Ymir shoved $10 in the tip jar, joining the other two $5 bills she had already dropped in.

_$20 dollars in tips? For her girlfriend? That’s really impressive. And to think I only gave Annie three dollars. But...Annie isn’t my girlfriend!! I mean, if I gave her $20 that would be weird. If this is how girlfriends act then maybe I shouldn’t even tip Annie or she’d get the wrong idea...but there is no idea in the first place so maybe I’m just really overreacting about this--_

“Ymir!” Krista giggled at Ymir’s antics, pulling Mikasa out of her trainwreck of an excuse for thoughts.

“Oh come on - the service here is exceptional and I have to tip accordingly, don’t I?” Ymir teased, sitting back at the table.

Mikasa willed herself to ignore their incessant flirting and forced herself to thank Ymir, who she was still annoyed at, though it was a nice gesture for her to pay for her drink. “I’m Mikasa.”

“Mikasa. Hm. So why did you come in here asking for Annie?”  Ymir started up again.

Mikasa picked up her coffee, taking a sip. “I told you, no reason.”

Ymir scoffed. “People just don’t come in here asking for Annie for no reason.”

Krista nodded in agreement as she came to sit at the table across from Ymir. “It’s true! Usually people come to say that Annie was short with them, or insulted them or something like that.”

“And that’s why we love her,” Ymir said endearingly. “People write scathing reviews about her online, and it’s so funny reading them with her. Annie literally does not care about anything at all. She’s my hero.”

“So that’s why you guys were arguing earlier about reading reviews?” Mikasa said, leaning against the counter with her drink.

“Yup. I wanted to read them now but Krista convinced me otherwise with her effortless charm,” Ymir cooed as Krista playfully kicked her under the table.

“Why would Annie want to read about people saying mean stuff about her?” Mikasa asked them.

“Because her sense of humor is very dark,” Krista said matter-of-factly.

“Fucked up, to be exact,” Ymir added on.

Mikasa was silent a moment, thinking. “Why does Annie work here then if customers don’t like her?”

“That’s easy - because she makes the best drinks!” Krista said, swatting away Ymir who kept trying to hold her hand. “She downplays it, but Annie makes amazing lattes and she comes up with awesome creations. That is, when she isn’t in middle of a new book. Her reading takes priority over coffee experimentation.”

“Yeah, like if you look at the board under “Monthly Specials”, Annie literally created all of those drinks. She does different ones every month,” Ymir nodded to the menu.

Intrigued, Mikasa studied the menu, noting the drinks under “Monthly Specials”:

 

_-White Rabbit Latte (hot or iced; milk and espresso with white chocolate sauce & caramel sauce) _

_-Steam Engine Frappe (Vanilla frappe mix blended with chocolate covered espresso beans)_

_-Black Forest Frappe (Kona Mocha frappe mix blended with cherry syrup and a shot of espresso)_

 

Mikasa supposed they all looked really good, if one was into sweet beverages.

“Even though she hates making them for people, she’s very good at it. No matter how much the customers complain about her attitude, they can’t resist coming back for the drinks she makes.” Krista explained.

Annie sounded like a walking contradiction to Mikasa. She hated making drinks, but was good at it. She was lazy and hated customers, yet took the time to handcraft new beverage ideas every month. She didn’t care about anything, yet took the time to read bad reviews about herself and _found them funny_.

“That’s our Annie,” Ymir said, reaching into her pocket as her phone chimed.

Ymir swiped her lockscreen open to see a text from Annie, reading it aloud. “Speaking of Annie, “Annie says, ‘Ymir, bring the game you borrowed back to my apartment today’."

Ymir looked up at Mikasa, looking like she was concocting the most evil plan ever as she began typing. “Ymir says, ‘Okay. There is some hottie here at shop looking for you’.”

Mikasa almost dropped her coffee in horror as she realized Ymir had actually pressed the send button. “You did not just do that!”

“Ymir!” Krista scolded, trying to take Ymir’s phone from her.

Mikasa dropped her bag in anger. “Stop messing around.”

Ymir laughed maniacally as her phone chimed again.“Annie says, ‘Your jokes have been really shitty lately’. See? She doesn’t even believe me!”

Mikasa had been _this close_ to going up to Ymir and physically grabbing her phone from her and throwing it into the sink before Krista grabbed it before her.

“Ymir, apologize!” Krista said, sliding Ymir’s lockscreen closed as the phone chimed again.

Ymir ignored her. “Krista, was that Annie again? Check and see!”

Breathing a sigh of exasperation, Krista swiped the lockscreen open again to check, figuring it was better if she did than Ymir. “It is Annie again. She says, ‘pic or it didn’t happen’.”

“NO WAY!!” Ymir howled in laughter at Annie’s request, trying to wrestle her phone back from Krista. “I have to do it!”

“Mikasa!! Quick, leave the shop!” Krista pleaded, “or she’ll take a picture!”

Mikasa blinked. “Picture of what?”

In the time that Krista moved her gaze just a moment to make eye contact with Mikasa, Ymir promptly grabbed her phone back and took a snap of a blank-faced Mikasa, sending it to Annie.

Krista slid back in her chair, running a hand through her hair. “I swear, Ymir, you are going to get yourself killed one day…”

“Did you just take a picture of me?” Mikasa demanded, going up to Ymir and kicking a leg of her chair.

“Whoa, no need to get violent!” Ymir said, putting her hands up. “I did no such thing.”

Her phone chimed once more and she quickly picked it up, her grin disappearing into a dejected look as she read Annie’s response. “So, okay. I actually did send a picture of you to Annie, and all she said was, ‘Oh. Her.’ That’s not a fun response.”

_‘Oh. Her?’ What kind of reaction is that? Am I...not the person she wanted to see?_

“Pull a stunt like that again and I will make sure you pay for it,” Mikasa promised, finishing her coffee and throwing it into the nearest trash can with extra force, never breaking eye contact with Ymir.

“Uh…” Ymir’s eyes shifted from Mikasa to the garbage can where her empty cup had landed perfectly without her even looking. “Sorry?”

“I’ve only met you once and you’ve already had to apologize to me multiple times. That’s not a good thing. If we meet again, make sure you’re not doing things that lead to you apologizing to me so much. Because I will get pissed off, and I will not be so merciful next time,” Mikasa said to her with quiet menace.

Ymir didn’t look scared per say, but she had the good grace to take her seriously. “Got it. Next time, I’ll be good.”

She shot her a wink for good measure but Mikasa’s face remained stony, so she nodded, as if to say “fair enough”, and opened up a game on her phone.

“Mikasa, I’ll walk you out,” Krista offered, getting up to pick up Mikasa’s bag that she’d dropped and handed it to her.

As they reached the front door, Krista followed Mikasa just outside the door.

“Look, I really am sorry for Ymir antagonizing you. She’s been in an extra goading mood today and she’s usually not that bad. She likes giving people a hard time but doesn’t always realize it’s not as fun for them as it is for her. Please don’t fret over it too much,” Krista said, and Mikasa could see the sincerity in her eyes.

“Also, um…” Krista’s eyes strayed from Mikasa’s. “Annie works tomorrow in the morning, if you want to stop by again.”

_Why had Krista’s demeanor changed like that? She couldn’t possibly think I have that much of an interest in Annie. I really don’t...I had only asked for her out of curiosity. I came here for coffee and nothing else. Regardless, I have to play this off so I don’t add fuel to the flame, if there is any…think of something nonchalant to say or some elaborate way of changing the subject..._

“Oh,” Mikasa said flatly. _Wow, good one!_

Krista nodded. “Well, I’ll see you again sometime, I’m sure! Thank you for stopping in!”

With that, Krista disappeared inside the shop, leaving Mikasa alone outside.

She checked her phone, and seeing that she’d spent more time than she’d wanted at the shop, hurried to the library to get her studying done. She resolved to return to the shop tomorrow morning, not specifically to see Annie, but to gauge Annie’s reaction to today’s vents orchestrated by Ymir.

 And also for coffee.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm annies-hoodie on tumblr come talk to me about annie
> 
> also someone take ymirs phone away for the love of god


	4. Chapter 4

Annie closed her eyes at the hum of the espresso machine, leaning against the counter and pulling up her hoodie closer to her chin as she awaited her espresso shot to complete her drink. It was 6 AM and Annie wanted nothing more than to crawl back into her bed and sleep. She was cold and tired and cranky and totally not used to working the opening shift. That was always the shift that her co-workers Sasha Braus and Jean Kirchstein liked to take, while Annie and Krista preferred the closing shifts. On top of that, it was a weekend. And in Annie’s book, working on the weekend was a sin. Weekends were for relaxing and chilling out in air-conditioned bliss, television remote in hand and a snack in the other.

But alas, Annie was stuck at the shop on a Saturday because Sasha needed the morning off for whatever reason. So to get her through the morning, some type of hot beverage was in order, and today Annie had chosen to make a classic mocha. Before adding the espresso, Annie had added a few shots of dark chocolate sauce to the mug, and placed it directly under portafilter so that she could get the complete espresso mixed in, crema and all. Usually, they brewed their espresso into small stainless steel pitchers and added them to drinks that way. But using that method, Annie noted that the crema, the golden layer of foam on top of an espresso shot, would get stuck to the pitcher, sacrificing an extra bit of richness that was imperceptible to most but not to Annie. To her, it was essential in creating a fulfilling beverage with a profound flavor. The pitchers were helpful when just starting out, so as not to pull a bad espresso shot directly into a cup, but Annie had been working at the shop for a few years now so she considered herself a pro.

The whirring of the machine stopped as the espresso finished with perfect timing, and Annie eagerly brought the mug close to her nose, inhaling the warm, rich scent of the dark chocolate mixed with velvety smooth espresso. She filled a pitcher with whole milk and set it to frothing as she gingerly stirred the chocolate and espresso together in her cup, swirling it gently so that the flavors could mingle properly. Satisfied at the thick, foamy texture of the milk, she added it to the mocha and eagerly brought the beverage to her lips before pausing, remembering something.

 _Whipped cream! How could I forget whipped cream?!_ Annie thought, putting the mug down with a shake of her head. She went to grab the canister from the fridge, surprised at herself for forgetting the absolute most important part of the drink. To some purists, putting whipped cream on a drink was blasphemy. But Annie needed it as much as she needed oxygen to breathe. She couldn’t believe she had almost taken her first sip without the cold, creamy goodness. But then again, it could be a side effect of being up so early. Seriously, Annie could not remember the last time she’d ever been awake before 10 AM. It was making her crazy already and her shift had barely started.

She added a very generous amount of whipped cream to her drink and drizzled a little bit more chocolate on top and stood back, admiring her work. If she was Jean, she would pull out her phone right now and take a picture of the mocha to post on the internet. He was obsessed with photographing all of the drinks he made, and Annie couldn’t even roast him for it because he had a pretty good number of followers on his account. Annie didn’t see the point. It was like he needed validation constantly, but she supposed it was better he got it from people on the internet than trying incessantly to get it from his coworkers.

Finally finished creating the drink, Annie took a sip of the mocha, closing her eyes at the soothing warmth and sinfully sweet taste, and took a seat on her bar stool, opening the book she had brought with her. She was nearly finished, and was hoping that she could power through the ending before a customer came in. People didn’t start showing up until 7-ish anyway, so Annie figured she had ample time to finish. Yet, she had barely perused the first paragraph when the door chime rang.

Annie sighed, getting up begrudgingly, but not before taking another sip of her drink. Lately, it seemed like every time she started to read a customer would arrive. Maybe it was like some secret signal, like a dog whistle or something. Except instead of a whistle, it was the magical gesture of Annie opening a book, and then someone nearby suddenly felt compelled to get a coffee. That had to be it. Or maybe karma was biting her in the ass for reading instead of taking stock or doing something else productive.

Whatever the case, it was getting annoying and Annie was thinking about whether it would make a difference if she read on her electronic reader or not when she realized she didn’t see a customer in the store.

_What the....I know I’m tired but I can’t be THAT delusional. The door definitely chimed!_

She peeked over the espresso machine, still not seeing anyone. Annie didn’t believe in ghosts, but she did believe in spirits, and she was trying to think if a spirit would have the power to open a door when she heard a subtle squeak of shoes on the hardwood floor.

 _That’s no fucking spirit…._ she thought, cautiously making her way over to the counter where the register was. _At least...I hope not._

She grabbed a wooden spoon from the supply cabinet on her way just in case she had to fight. Not that a wooden spoon would help much, but whatever. At least she had something, and Annie was nothing if not prepared. She stopped midway when she saw a face peek out and attempt to pinpoint her location, only to duck down immediately after making eye contact with Annie while letting out a bark of poorly concealed laughter.

 _Fucking Ymir.._.Annie rolled her eyes as she heard Krista slap her, followed by a whispered “she’s going to find us now!”

“You guys, get the hell up. Really?” Annie called, throwing her wooden spoon at Ymir when the pair popped up from their hiding spot.

“Ow! Is that any way to treat someone who brought you pancakes?” Ymir complained, rubbing the spot on her arm where Annie had whipped the spoon at her.

Krista, meanwhile, was putting her phone away with a disappointed look on her face. “We were trying to scare you and record it but Ymir sucks at incognito.”

Annie raised an eyebrow, not impressed. “I don’t get scared.”

“Really? Why did you have the spoon then?” Ymir shot back.

“That was a precaution!” Annie insisted. “But onto more important matters than your epic failure, though I do love it so much when you guys fail; you have pancakes for me?”

“Not just your favorite double stacked chocolate chip with butter, syrup, and whipped cream pancakes...oh no, we have much more than that,” Krista said with a manic smile, looking way too excited for her own good.

Annie looked at her uncertainly as she reached for the white Styrofoam box that contained her precious pancakes.

“Oh, right! I have your game that I never dropped off,” Ymir said, chucking the game at Annie. Annie made no move to catch it as it hit her shoulder, too focused on cutting her pancakes.

“Not that! No, this is much better. We have…..” Krista started, waiting as Ymir tapped out a drum roll on the counter, “GIRL NEWS FOR YOU!”

"Whoooo!! Lucky winner!!” Ymir yelled, throwing a few dollar bills in the air, floating to the floor unceremoniously.

“Oh, tip money for me, Ymir?” Annie said, ignoring the “girl news” part as she took a bite of pancake.

“Sorry, no. This is for Krista. That was just for show,” Ymir called as she picked up the money and put it in Krista’s purse.

Annie scowled as Krista laughed, giving the money back to Ymir. “Ymir! I don’t want your money!”

Ymir refused it, turning her back to Krista with her arms crossed. “Just take it! I’m going to spend it all on you anyway so it doesn’t matter if you have it now.”

Krista smiled sweetly, taking Ymir’s elbow to turn her back around. “Okay. I’ll buy us ice cream later then.”

Annie made a fake puking noise at their banter. They were so _gross_. “You guys, you’re ruining my appetite, please.”

Ymir watched as Annie followed a large bite of pancakes with a sip of her mocha. “You’re going to get fucking diabetes one day.”

“If I do it will be from you and your girlfriend’s sickly sweet bullshit. So please, stop, if only for my health.” Annie said.

Ymir nodded. “You know, that was good, Annie. That was good. But you’re next, so don’t talk too soon.”

“I’m next?” Annie said. What the hell was Ymir talking about?

“Yep. To be cutesy with your own GF named MIKASA!” Ymir announced with pride as Krista nodded fervently next to her.

Annie put down her fork, pushing the rest of her pancakes away. “Okay, the pancakes were nice, but it’s getting canceled out by this BS at 6 in the morning. I have no interest in talking about that weirdo.”

Mikasa? The dumbass that looked incredibly charming and cute in the candid photo Ymir sent to her yesterday? Annie most definitely did not want to talk about her.

First off, she had been completely taken by surprise when Ymir texted her the picture. Annie had figured Ymir was messing around about a hot girl coming to see her. But when she downloaded the picture message and saw an adorably confused Mikasa, Annie had almost thrown her phone across the room for even thinking the words “adorably confused” in relation to Mikasa. She had quickly typed out a nonchalant ‘ _Oh. Her._ ’ to end the conversation. And _then_ she promptly threw her phone across the room.

She had sat on her couch wondering where the thoughts had come from. Mikasa was...Mikasa. They barely knew each other, having only met on two brief occasions. Annie didn’t even know her last name. All she knew was that Mikasa seemed introverted, a little overconfident, possibly a goody two shoes with no common sense. A goody two shoes that had come to the coffee shop looking for Annie, if Ymir was to be trusted. Why would Mikasa give a shit about Annie? That was the real question. A question that Annie pondered for a good forty minutes or so as she lay with her face mashed into a pillow, before she gave up, coming to no good answer as to why Mikasa would come in just for her. Like, Mikasa was so pretty. Annie couldn’t believe she had never noticed, but then again, she wasn’t really paying attention; their two meetings had been pretty uneventful and one took place at night, so Annie’s complete obliviousness could be excused. But the picture Ymir had sent made it clear as day: Mikasa was 100% beautiful, no amount of denial could take that away. Mikasa’s eyebrows had been lightly furrowed in confusion, her lips parted just slightly. Her eyes were unbelievable, their color like a muted blue, a gray, really, that reminded Annie of sparkling stone on spring day, or a calm sky on the brink of dusk over the ocean. Her jet black hair fell slightly into her eyes, framing her face perfectly. Annie would know, because she had studied the picture like it was modern art before deleting not only the picture but her entire conversation thread with Ymir. Because fuck Ymir and her HD camera.

“Annie, come on,” Krista said, taking a seat opposite Ymir. “At least get to know her a little. I think you guys would be a good match.”

“And how the hell would you know that?” Annie asked, throwing her pancake box away. “Did you sit and interrogate her or something? Seriously, don’t bother. I’m not interested in a relationship right now.”

She really wasn’t. All Annie was concerned about was her own life and well-being. She didn’t think she had it in her to give a shit about another human being as much as a relationship would require. Her casual friendship with Ymir and Krista was more than enough to sustain her. Annie greatly valued her independence and introverted-ness and she figured those traits did not mesh well in relationships. So what was the use in getting into one? She didn’t feel the need for one. And she wasn’t the type of person to do something just for the hell of it, or just because it was something everyone else did.

Ymir scoffed. “You’re never interested in a relationship, because you’re too scared to take a chance.”

Well, that was maybe true too. Not like Annie would let Ymir know that, though.

“Oh, because you know me so well,” Annie countered.

It was a half-baked insult. Ymir kinda did know Annie pretty well. They had become friends by association when Krista had started at the coffee shop about a year and a half ago, and Annie rather liked the two and enjoyed their company. However, that didn’t mean they _knew_ Annie. It was a casual thing. They didn’t, like, know any of Annie’s hopes and dreams or anything like that. They probably wanted to, though. Annie was aware that trust and the ability to confide in one another was essential to a deep, close friendship. It just wasn’t something she was ready for yet, but she was more than willing to listen when Ymir or Krista needed her too. Annie would never tell her secrets, but she was great at guarding other people’s.

“I mean, I would say I do. I’d say you and me and Krista are all pretty close. Well, as close as you’ve let us get, anyway. All we’re saying is, this girl is clearly interested in you. And that you should give it a try,” Ymir said casually, choosing to take the path of reason with Annie rather than trying to piss her off.

Annie sighed, leaving the counter to go sit with them at the table. “I’m not interested. Let’s drop it, okay?”

Krista shot a nervous glance at Ymir before looking down at her phone, but the exchange was not lost on Annie. She felt hear heartbeat pick up the pace as she predicted that Krista was up to something. “Krista....what was that look for?”

Annie glanced at Ymir for an answer, but she should have known better. Ymir would rather jump off the roof of a building than give away her girlfriend, so she merely feigned ignorance and looked away, humming to herself.

Seriously, those two were making Annie crazy and it was only about 15 minutes into her shift.

“So....” Krista began, not making eye contact with Annie. She didn’t say anything after that though, prompting Annie to lean in, trying to make her fess up.

“So….?” Annie questioned, getting more worried by the minute. Just what had she done?

“Well...I kind of sort of told Mikasa you’d be working this morning if she wanted to stop by,” Krista said, holding her breath to see what Annie’s reaction would be.

“You...what?” Annie said, her tone void of any emotion, her face not moving a muscle. Krista didn’t know if that was more or less scary than Annie freaking out.

“She didn’t seem that interested though, if that helps,” Krista added, to smooth things over.

_Wait a second….not interested?_

“Why wasn’t she interested?” Annie said before she could stop herself, earning an eyebrow raise and sly smirk from Ymir at the quick change in demeanor.

“Hm. So she _does_ care,” Ymir said. “Remember, you were the one that sent “Oh. Her” as reply back to me when I sent you her picture. She looked kinda disappointed for a split second if I’m not mistaken.”

_Oh my god!? Oh my god. Ymir had shown her my response? Shit. I must seem like a bitch. But I guess that’s okay...maybe that’ll make her not want to come in today. I don’t need her stopping in and having Ymir and Krista try to play matchmaker. That’s the last thing I need this morning._

“Do I give a shit what she thought about my response? It was honest. I wasn’t impressed. I legitimately thought some hot girl was here for me, but it was just Mikasa,” Annie said coolly. _You’re such a fucking liar, Annie. She’s really hot and you know it._

“And...Mikasa isn’t a hot girl? Am I missing something here?” Ymir said, leaning back in here chair. “Well, whatever. Let’s take a bet. Ten bucks says she shows up today to see our pretty cutie pie Annie.”

Annie flipped her off while Krista perked up, adding in her own bet. “Ooh, okay! I say two candy bars of my choice that she shows up today.”

Ymir and Krista high fived before turning to Annie, awaiting her bet. Annie shook her head, seeing no way out of it. “Fine. I’ll bet twenty dollars she doesn’t show up.”

“Twenty dollars?” Krista said. “That’s a pretty confident bet.”

“Of course it is. She has no reason to show up here today. Our meetings up until now were by chance and now it’s all completely done, so you guys can find something else to do with your time,” Annie said, getting up from the table. She supposed it was time to take stock, then she wouldn’t have to do it later.

“And with the money I get from you guys, I’ll buy myself a brand new hoodie,” Annie said, taking out the stock sheet from behind the counter. “So thank you, in advance.”

“We’ll see,” Ymir said, taking out two portable game devices and handing one to Krista. “We’re going to play games now, so shut the hell up.”

Annie let out a laugh at that, earning a smile from Ymir. Some people would have read Ymir’s words as an insult, but her bluntness and sarcasm was exactly what Annie liked about her. Sometimes it pushed her buttons, but more often than not, Annie enjoyed her comments.

“What a rare sight!” Ymir said. “This is a great day. Thank you for blessing us with your laughter, Annie Leonhart. Wish we could hear it more often.”

“Maybe if you were actually funny, but that’s just as rare as my laughter. See the correlation?” Annie said smugly as Krista laughed and Ymir grumbled something while rummaging through her bag for a game cartridge.

Annie turned her attention to the syrups that needed to be counted for the stock order, and got through about half of them when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Simultaneously, Krista’s phone chimed and they both glanced at each other before checking their phones. It was the shop’s owner, Hanji, sending a mass text to the staff:

 

 

> **Hanji:** CLOSE THE SHOP UP IN 45 MINUTES. I’M COMING!!!!!!!!1
> 
>  

“What the hell?” Annie said, looking at Krista, who looked equally as confused. “What is she talking about?”

“I’m asking her that right now,” Krista said, and Annie’s phone buzzed shortly after.

 

 

> **Krista:** What does that mean?

 

Hanji’s reply came quickly.

 

 

> **Hanji:** It means SURPRISE STAFF MEETING! Sasha will not be there and neither will Levi. See you all soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HAVE AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT kfskadfjaskf

 

Annie wasn’t about to complain. Even though Hanji was fucking loud and annoying and had weird ideas, Annie would rather sit and tune her out than have to work. Usually staff meetings were a hindrance, but it was very welcome today.

“Guess I don’t have to worry about this, then,” Annie said to Krista and Ymir, putting the stock sheet back in the binder under the counter. “Want to read reviews until closing time?”

Krista and Ymir did not answer her, eyes glued to their screens as they mashed the buttons on their consoles loudly. Like, Annie could hear sound of crackling plastic from multiple feet away.

_Fine, whatever. I’ll read some reviews myself._

Annie sat up on the counter and opened the web browser on her phone, and pulled up a review site from her bookmarks, and typed in _The Sunny Bean_ (to this day, Annie still had no idea what the hell the name of the coffee shop meant, but that was Hanji for you) and looked at the most recent reviews. There were three new ones that Annie hadn’t seen yet, and she clicked on the “Read More” button with thinly veiled excitement, tapping her foot impatiently as it loaded.

The first review was from a week ago, and Annie read through it quickly, because it was another glowing review of Sasha. Those were very frequent on _The Sunny Bean’s_ page, as people just loved her. Annie could only take her so long, but whatever. If she made people happy than that was good, Annie guessed.

 

 

> **Mari (53 reviews, 45 photos) Rating: 5 Stars**
> 
> _Very pleased with The Sunny Bean. It was my first time in and Sasha, the barista, was very friendly. The cranberry orange scone and breakfast blend coffee that she recommended was just perfect. Will be returning again because of her bright smile and knowledge of the products!_

 

Boring. Annie scrolled to the next review, and nodded in satisfaction at the 1 star rating:

  


 

> **Nico (2 reviews, 0 photos) Rating: 1 Star**
> 
> _The Sunny Bean is garbage!! I will never come back. The barista, Annie, was so rude. When I asked her if the coffee was gluten free, she said “What do you think?” and when I said “Excuse me?” She said that if I was following a gluten free diet, shouldn’t I have a good general knowledge on what food items are gluten free or not. Very nervy. I skipped the coffee then and asked if she had recommendations for anything else, and she said not really. That was the last straw for me. I came in for a nice cup of coffee but left with a sour taste in my mouth because of that trash can Annie._

 

“You guys, call me Trash Can Annie from now on, okay?” Annie said, laughing quietly to herself.

That was her favorite kind of review. Bitchy and funny. But Annie stood by her actions. Why would she patronize a grown adult? Obviously coffee was gluten free, unless you added a bunch of stuff to it. If the woman was following a gluten free diet, she should’ve known that. Annie had little to no patience for idiocy. Plus, the lady had a bitchy tone too. It wasn’t a genuine, “Excuse me, is the coffee gluten-free?”. It was a snippy, pointed, “ _Um_ . Is this coffee... _gluten-free_?” As if she would be utterly disgusted and pissed if it wasn’t. Fuck that.

“Trash Can Annie? I like it, it suits you,” called Ymir, still focused on her game.

The newest review was from not even a day ago, and Annie’s heart stopped when she read it.

 

 

> **Anonymous (0 reviews, 0 photos) Rating: 5 Stars**
> 
> _I really like the blonde barista. She’s cute even though she doesn’t know it, and makes great coffee._
> 
>  

“Um, hey, you two. When was the last time you went on the review site?” Annie said, her thumb frozen over the review.

“Uh...probably like last week? I don’t know, the last time we all checked them together. Ymir wanted to look yesterday but I said not without you,” Krista answered before slamming her fist on the table.

“Ymir, we’re supposed to be a team!” Krista said angrily. Ymir had just killed her player so that she could take first place.

Ymir was laughing as she continued to play. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know it was you, I swear.”

Their arguing faded into the background as Annie focused on her own thoughts. “Blonde barista” could be her or Krista. And Krista had worked yesterday. BUT, people often left reviews a day or so after they visited a place. And Annie had worked the day before that. Could Mikasa have written the review about Annie? Why else would it be anonymous? And Mikasa must have thought Annie made good coffee (even though all she did was pour it) because she had tipped her. So the “makes great coffee” part of the review added up too. If it was Mikasa, then she had flat out said she thought Annie was cute.

UNLESS...someone wrote the review about Krista. But Krista hadn’t mentioned anyone weird that had been hitting on her that could have possibly wrote the review.

Annie was freaking out. Was this Mikasa thing legitimate? She didn’t know what to think. She didn’t want to think about it. So she had to distract herself.  

Ymir and Krista had put away their games, after Krista had quit as a result of Ymir’s antics. They noticed Annie’s jumpiness as she hopped of the counter, busying herself with wiping down everything in sight.

“What happened to chilling out until Hanji got here?” Ymir strolled over to the counter, picking out cookie from a basket marked “ **New**!” and began eating it as she returned to her seat, not bothering to pay for it.

“I _am_ chilling out,” Annie huffed, wiping down a cabinet furiously.

Ymir and Krista shot each other skeptical looks as the door chimed again, and their skepticism gave way to shock as none other than Mikasa walked in.

The pair had to close their mouths after they had immediately opened in surprise, and Ymir’s eyes narrowed in mischievous glee as Krista quickly put a hand over Ymir's mouth, the laughter already starting.

For her part, Annie hadn’t even noticed Mikasa yet. She was still scrubbing down every surface she could find in an attempt to get her mind off the mystery review.

Mikasa gave Ymir and Krista an odd look, wondering why they looked like they were going to combust into hysterics or something as she peeked over the counter, finding an exasperated Annie, cleaning like there there was no tomorrow.

Mikasa looked over her shoulder one more time at Ymir and Krista, still holding in their laughter, noticing the tears forming in the corners of Ymir’s eyes with amusement. What was wrong with them?

Mikasa cleared her throat, but Annie didn’t notice in midst of her cleaning frenzy.

Ymir was making choking sounds as she pushed Krista’s hand away, covering her mouth in a poor attempt to stay quiet while Krista was trying to bury her face into her bag, her whole body shaking with barely concealed laughter.

“Oh my fucking _god_ , what is it with you two?” Annie snapped, turning around to find herself face to face with Mikasa.

 _Ohmyfucking GOD_.

Annie opened her mouth but no words came out, and she mentally slapped herself for looking so disoriented in front of Mikasa. _Get it together, already!_

Mikasa looked at Annie expectantly, waiting for her to say something, but when it appeared she had nothing, Mikasa broke the silence. She seemed to have caught Annie quite by surprise, if the growing blush across her cheeks was any indicator.

“Hey, Annie,” Mikasa said coolly.

Annie’s mind was blank. Fresh off the heels of Annie’s internal discourse about the review, Mikasa shows up? It was just her luck. But she needed to pull it together fast for risk of looking like a complete dumbass.

She cleared her throat, meeting Mikasa’s eyes. “Hey.”

“Mikasa! Hi!!” Ymir and Krista called their greetings, apparently having broken their unspoken truce of “No Laughter” now that Mikasa had approached Annie.

She turned slightly and sent a casual wave and smile in their direction, her hair swishing ever so softly before turning back to Annie.

And Annie wanted to DIE. It was, quite possibly, the most attractive thing she had ever seen a human being do. Dumb Mikasa with her perfect hair and her dumb fitted jacket and cute nose. No, Mikasa couldn’t be human. No mortal could look as impossibly good as she did, her little half smile and wave absolutely melting Annie internally. She had to be some kind of goddess. And now she was just _standing_ there, _staring at Annie._ Could she really think Annie was cute?

“Did you need something?” Annie said. _Nice. Play it cool. So what if she’s insanely attractive? She means nothing to you. Chill out. There’s no way she would have written that damn review either. Forget about it._

“Yeah. Coffee,” Mikasa said, apparently unaffected by Annie’s bluntness.

“You know, there are other places for coffee. Why do you keep coming here?” Annie said, turning to fix Mikasa a cup of dark roast.

“Don’t be bitchy, Annie!” Krista yelled at her.

“Yeah, come on, Annie! She dressed up all nice and came over her to see you and you act like a grouch? You are living up to that Trash Can Annie name,” Ymir chimed in.

Mikasa turned around in alarm. “I’m not dressed up nice for her and I didn’t come here to see here.”

Ymir shrugged. “Okay. Regardless, you look good today.” She gave Mikasa a thumbs up, and Mikasa shot her a warning glare, turning around just as Annie set her cup of coffee in front of her.

“How much is it again?” Mikasa said, feeling around in her purse for her wallet.

“Um...don’t worry about it, okay? It’s free,” Annie mumbled.

Mikasa stopped in surprise. “Why?”

 _Jesus, why does she care? Just accept it without questioning me._ Annie thought. It had been a spur of the moment thing and Annie really couldn’t answer Mikasa’s question of “Why?” if she wanted to. And also because she doubted that “ _because you’re pretty and I’m kind of flattered that you think I’m cute if it was in fact you that wrote the review about me_ ” would be a proper answer.

Annie blinked. “Just because. Take it and go.”

Mikasa took her coffee but didn’t leave. “Well, thank you.”

“Sure.” Annie turned and went to busy herself by looking in the fridge even though she knew it was fully stocked, hoping Mikasa would leave. But when she glanced over her shoulder, Mikasa was still standing there looking at her.

She could also see Ymir and Krista at their table behind her smirking at Annie.

Annie closed the fridge door with a sigh, looking at Mikasa with annoyance.

“Did you need something else?” Annie said.

“No,” Mikasa answered, but she still didn’t move.

Was this some kind of game or something? Pretty as she may be, Annie still stood by Mikasa being a damn weirdo.

“Then... is there a reason you’re standing there?” Annie asked.

“I just wanted to ask you if you’re feeling okay,” Mikasa said.

“Oh. I’m fine…?” Annie said, letting her confusion seep into her tone.

Mikasa nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer. “Good. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t sick after I ran into you the other night outside, with your wet hair and all. I made the right decision to put your hood on for you, it seems.”

She took her coffee and took a seat a few tables away from Ymir and Krista. She sat quietly, sipping her drink as if she hadn’t just made things incredibly awkward.

Once again, Annie found herself asking why Mikasa gave a goddamn shit about her. And why she was so WEIRD.

She decided she had to get to the bottom of this review thing right now, or it would drive her crazy. She had just about built up the courage to try and get it out of Mikasa when Ymir through something at her. Annie looked down and realized it was a bag of microwave popcorn.

“What the fuck?” Annie said, picking it up and throwing it back at Ymir.

“Make it for me! This is such a good show. We need popcorn,” Ymir said, while Krista voiced her agreement.

“Wow, kiss my ass,” Annie said, walking over to Mikasa’s table. Mikasa looked up, and Annie nearly lost her resolve at the sight of her bemused expression, it was so damn endearing.

_You’re here to interrogate, Annie. Not stare. Let’s do this._

“So, do you write reviews often?” Annie questioned, crossing her arms.

“Do I...write reviews often?” Mikasa repeated back to her, her expression unreadable as she sipped her coffee.

“Yes,” Annie confirmed.

Mikasa looked like she was tossing the question around in her head before she answered. “Am I supposed to know what that means?”

“Are you?” Annie shot back immediately after Mikasa finished her sentence.

“Am I?” Mikasa returned just as fast.

Annie blinked, uncrossing her arms as she prepared to get into a shouting match with Mikasa, but their conversation (if you could call it that)  was cut short when Hanji all but kicked the door open, causing the newly fixed “Open” sign to crash to the floor and burn out once again.

“HELLO, SUNNY BEAN EMPLOYEES!” she called, saluting all of them.

Annie stared at Hanji, pissed at her for interrupting her interrogation while Krista frowned. “What about Jean?”

“Oh...I forgot he’s not coming either. He’s actually the reason for this special meeting,” Hanji said, surveying the shelves to make sure they were all in order (which they were, seeing as the shop had been open for not even an hour yet).

“Nice work Annie,” Hanji said, glancing at Ymir who was shoving the last of her cookie into her mouth after Annie had denied her of her popcorn.

“I didn’t even do anything,” Annie said, but Hanji had already moved on to something more important, aka Ymir and the cookie.

“Ooh! Those just came in, brand new product. How is it?” Hanji exclaimed, moving her face close to Ymir’s in anticipation of her verdict.

“Uh...good?” Ymir coughed through a mouthful of crumbs, perturbed at Hanji’s closeness.

“Awesome!!!! And Levi said they looked shitty. Who’s shitty now? Not the cookie, I’ll tell you that much,” Hanji said, pulling back from Ymir. abruptly. “Alright, kids. Lock the door and let’s get this meeting started, shall we?

Mikasa, who had been taking the whole scene in quietly, stood up. “Excuse me, if there is a staff meeting, should I leave? And shouldn’t Ymir leave too?”

Hanji waved her concerns away, shaking her head. “Of course not! Ymir is like a honorary employee. And you can stay too. Consider it an exclusive inside look at the behind the scenes action at _The Sunny Bean_.”

“Nothing ever happens at these meetings. We go over reviews, Hanji sometimes orders pizza but it’s too early today, we all talk shit about customers, Hanji introduces some ideas that never pan out and then we go home,” Annie explained to Mikasa, who nodded her head as she listened.

“Annie, don’t trivialize the staff meetings like that! Without staff meetings, _The Sunny Bean_ would fall apart,” Hanji scolded, locking the doors herself after nobody had moved to do it.

“It sounds very interesting,” Mikasa said, and Hanji perked up at that.

“I like you already!” Hanji beamed at Mikasa, and Annie scowled.

“Can we just start the meeting?” Annie said, taking the seat opposite of Mikasa. The sooner this would be over, the sooner she could get back to her “review issue” with Mikasa.

“I know, Annie. You’re eager to start. And so am I. And so we shall,” Hanji said ominously.

 

“But get ready, because what I’m about to tell you is going to change your life.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> damn sorry for the wait on this update. summer classes are kicking my ass! except minimum monthly updates from here on out, bi weekly if i happen to have a light workload on occasion. Thank you for all the kind comments :)
> 
> Ps annie is totally cracking wow and we've barely gotten started (mikasa will officially start working at the shop in the next chapter too just in case you all are wondering when that will happen. I figured I'd tell you so it doesn't seem like I plan to drag that part on too long)


	5. Chapter 5

Hanji paused for a moment, drawing out the big reveal as long as she could while everyone looked at her expectantly. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before announcing the news. 

Mikasa saw that everyone in the room looked tense. Well, almost everyone. Annie was emotionless. But Krista was holding her breath, fists clenched while Ymir bounced her knee nervously. She wondered if Hanji did this often.

“Jean is leaving soon!”

Krista immediately let out a sigh of relief, while Ymir mumbled something about dodging a bullet. Hanji’s face fell at the anti-climactic reactions. Mikasa could tell it was not what she had been hoping for. 

“There is no pleasing you guys, is there?” Hanji teased, throwing up her hands. “Well, I thought it was exciting, life changing news. And why do you all looked so relieved? What were you expecting me to say?

“I think we were all still traumatized by your announcement to make us all dress in mascot characters to promote the shop last meeting,” said Krista, wincing as spoke.

“I kinda wish that one would have panned out; would have been funny. I was thinking more along the lines of the time you proposed everyone work for free to test their loyalty. That was pretty out there.” Ymir said. “But hey, how come Jean is leaving?”

“He finally landed a full time job so he has to get rid of this one. I was thinking we should throw a party or something for him, since he’s worked here a while,” Hanji proposed. “And for the record, the mascot idea would have worked well if Levi wouldn’t have rejected it.”

Krista and Ymir looked fine with the idea of a party. Mikasa was expressionless, not caring one way or the other, while Annie turned up her nose. “For real? I don’t want to have a party for him.”

“Well, you don’t have to come, Annie,” Hanji said pleasantly, moving right along. Save for her, the general consensus, aka Ymir and Krista, seemed in favor of the party, and that seemed good enough for Hanji. “We could all bring some kind of food, close up the shop, and have a little get together here. What do you guys think?”

Krista smiled, already on her phone searching for recipes. “I think it sounds really nice.”

“Perfect! It’s settled then,” Hanji said, clapping her hands together.

Annie rolled her eyes, pulling her hoodie over her head. Mikasa glanced at Annie but averted her eyes quickly, not wanting to make her uncomfortable. Mikasa had a habit of staring, and it was taking a lot of effort for her not to openly study Annie. She was intrigued by her, even somewhat confused by her demeanor and actions. It was something Mikasa hadn’t really experienced before...usually, she was able to feel out a person and grasp their general vibe from the first meeting. But Annie remained a mystery to her.

_ Her nature is so...contrasting. She puts off this cold air, speaks sharply and acts disinterested and inconvenienced. Yet I can’t help feeling that it’s a front.  _

“We’ll figure out a date that works for everyone. I’ll send out a group text after the meeting so we can get that in order. Now the hard part is finding a replacement for Jean. You guys know how long the training process is, and since he’s leaving in just two weeks I’d really like to find someone reliable sooner rather than later. I want to ask you all if you know anyone who would be a good employee here and is able to start right away,” Hanji said. 

“Hmm…” Ymir mused, her forehead crinkling in concentration. “Everyone I know already has a job. I do know this one girl though...she’s a cold-hearted bitch but she has plenty of free time for work, so maybe...oh wait, she already works here. Her name is Annie Leonhart.”

Mikasa bristled at that. She did not care if Ymir wanted to mess with her. Sure, it annoyed her. But it was nothing she couldn’t take. When she insulted Annie though, something inside Mikasa just wasn’t okay with it. And Mikasa always trusted her gut feeling. She spoke quietly but with deadly purpose, her tone leaving no room for rebuttal. “Annie is not a cold-hearted bitch.” 

Mikasa felt Annie look at her but she kept her hands folded, eyes fixated ahead on Hanji to continue as if she hadn’t even spoken at all. She supposed they all thought the interjection was odd. She could see why they would. They were probably wondering why she cared, why she felt compelled to step in. Why she had challenged a pretty obvious jest from the infamous jokester Ymir. She did not have an answer for them, but she was sure no one would ask.

Instead, they were quiet for a moment until Ymir eased the tension in the room.“Don’t worry Mikasa. I know that little softy isn’t a bitch. I just love giving her a hard time.”

Hanji had been watching the exchange with keen eyes, studying Mikasa intently. “Do you go to school?”

Mikasa nodded. “I do.”

_ That’s an unexpected change of topic. _

“What are you going for?” Hanji questioned, sitting on the table Mikasa and Annie occupied, completely blocking Annie from Mikasa’s view.

“Creative writing,” Mikasa said, wondering what her intentions were.

Hanji nodded knowingly, as if she had been expecting the answer. “Just as I thought.”

Ymir crinkled her eyebrows incredulously. “What? How in the hell would you suspect that? She hasn’t even said anything this whole time except to defend Annie.”

Hanji nodded sagely. “It’s easy.” 

She turned back to Mikasa, eyes slightly narrowed as she took her in, her face inching uncomfortably close to Mikasa’s. “You’re introspective. You’ve been watching this meeting without comment, noting everyone’s behaviors and contributions. You learn about us without having to ask anything, by just observing. You do not mince your words. You’re always thinking, inferencing, predicting. Imagining. There’s nothing else you could be but a writer. Those feelings that you can’t vocalize are the exact reason you’re able to write so well.” 

Mikasa raised an eyebrow. Hanji had good intuition. 

“Lucky guess,” Ymir scoffed. 

Hanji chuckled and shrugged casually, giving Mikasa’s personal space back to her as she hopped off the table, pacing the room. “I’m an entrepreneur. To be successful in the field you have to know people and how they work. Which leads back into our discussion on any new prospective employees. The person has to be trustworthy, smart, and able to function independently. Working as part of a team is preferred but not necessary, since, as you know, the job is mostly a single person shift type of thing. Anyone ringing a bell?”

Krista bit her lip in concentration but didn’t offer any suggestions, while Annie just stared off into space. Hanji gave them all a good amount of time to speak up before she clapped her hands at the lack of response.“I’ll take that as a no!” So…”

She circled back to Mikasa, humming to herself as she brought a finger to her lips, contemplating. Mikasa was beginning to feel unnerved at the second round of scrutinization but held her ground, maintaining her composure. 

“I have an idea,” Hanji finally announced, and Mikasa wondered what she was up to.

Krista looked tired at this notion while Ymir rolled her eyes. Annie was not paying attention, arms crossed and her eyes half closed, head tilted slightly. Mikasa thought she was about to fall asleep.

Hanji grinned, pointing at Mikasa. “You. Mikasa. Are you interested in a job here?”

_ Hold on. What? Me? _

That snapped Annie right out of her almost-slumber as she bolted upright and pulled her hood down from her head in sharp motion. “ _ Her _ ?”

“Yes, her. Why the reaction?” Hanji asked, perplexed. 

Mikasa waited expectantly, wondering why Annie seemed to be so averted to her, or any mention of her, considering yesterday’s ‘ “ _ Oh. Her _ ”.’ reaction along with this one. An explanation for Annie’s reactions is exactly what Mikasa would love, but she knew she wouldn’t get it out of her like this. 

“I just...she has no experience,” Annie stated, looking at Mikasa for only a moment before focusing on Hanji. “It’d be bad for the business.”

Hanji waved her concerns away. “Well, that’s why you’re going to train her! If she accepts, that is.”

Annie glared at her boss. “She hasn’t even had an interview.”

“She doesn’t need one. I’m trusting my gut feeling,” Hanji gave a friendly wink to Mikasa. 

_ Haha, Annie,  _ Mikasa thought. 

Annie seemed to begrudgingly accept that Hanji wasn’t going to rescind the offer, and shook her head before laying her head on the table for a nap.

The more Annie was voicing her opinion against the idea, the more Mikasa wanted to do it just to spite her. Just like her gut feeling had told her to defend the insolent blonde earlier, it was now telling her to take the job. Her eyes sparked with the the beginnings of a fire as she stared down Annie’s dumb cute hair bun, the only part of her head that was visible at the moment. 

“So, Mikasa, what do you say? Are you up to a job along with your school schedule? I’m looking for 10-15 hours a week, but I can work with you if you wanted more or less,” Hanji said, awaiting her response. 

Though her mind was pretty much made up, she was careful to turn the idea around in her head to weigh the pros and cons. It was nearing the end of the summer semester, and Mikasa had absolutely nothing planned for the break leading up to classes in fall. She knew that she would be able to handle a part time job when school started up again, and she definitely wouldn’t mind a little extra money. And most importantly, considering Eren and Armin would be leaving her very soon for a long time, Mikasa was leaning towards a job being a very good idea to occupy her time, in addition to solving the mystery that was Annie. She couldn’t think of any reason not to take it, though she was sure the angry blonde across from her could. 

“I’ll do it,” Mikasa accepted. Annie flinched almost imperceptibly, but Mikasa didn’t miss it. 

“Cool!” Krista said with a bright smile, and Ymir flashed Mikasa a thumbs up. 

“Seriously?” Hanji adjusted her glasses, eyes wide with surprise. “This is great!”

She pumped a fist in the air in victory before clapping Mikasa on the back. “ I, for one, am so excited to have you on board. This is going to be awesome!” 

“I’m glad I can help,” Mikasa said coolly.  _ And I’m glad I’ll now have an excuse to interact with Annie all the time. _

 

* * *

 

_ This has got to be a fucking joke,  _ Annie thought, beyond grateful that her face was currently hidden, mashed into her arms and the table in the guise of a nap. She was freaking the hell out at the reality of Mikasa working with her. WORKING WITH HER. As in, speaking to her on an almost daily basis. Looking at her. Being around her. 

She did not know how she was going to survive. 

Seeing as she’d wound herself up quite nicely at the mere prospect of Mikasa(?) calling her cute over an anonymous internet comment, she was pretty sure she’d melt into a pile of goo upon interacting with the beautiful girl for a prolonged amount of time. A few minutes she could handle. But a whole couple of hours? It would surely result in her imminent death. 

She barely listened as Hanji rambled on about the perks of working at the shop and instead focused on regulating her breathing. Her face was probably red and if she ever wanted to show it again she needed to cool down. 

Until she heard Hanji mention the word “reviews”. She froze solid as the blood in her veins turned cold, mind numbing at what was about to happen. 

_ Are you. Fucking. KIDDING ME. _

She felt Hanji poke her elbow. “Get up, Annie. Last thing for the day, I promise. Review time.”

Annie didn’t move, her mind racing through ways to handle the situation. If they went through reviews all together,  _ the review _ would come up. The one Annie had been obsessing over for the last hour. And she had to figure out to handle it. What she wanted to do was stay cool, act like it was irrelevant, but she was worried her body would betray her. Worried that a blush would creep up on her cheeks, or her eye would twitch, or her heart would beat too loud or something. And Mikasa would fucking see it and  _ know _ that Annie suspected Mikasa of writing the comment. But the worst part is, Annie would also know in that moment if Mikasa was the one who wrote it. She would have a tell too, Annie just knew it. So the situation could end up in either one of two ways. If it wasn’t Mikasa, Annie would look pathetic and sad as hell for thinking and hoping it was her (though she hoped she had enough control over her expressions to not betray the hope part). And if it was Mikasa, then it would affirm that Mikasa harbored some kind of feelings for Annie. In which case, Annie would be secretly happy. But the awkwardness at the revelation would probably cancel out any preliminary feelings of happiness. So Annie decided she’d get out of the situation by staying put. 

But then Hanji began repeatedly poking her until Annie became fed up.

“Really?” Annie complained, forced out of her fake nap position as she rubbed her arm.  _ Dammit, Hanji. _

“Annie, I had to do it. I need you alert,” Hanji said, not even slightly apologetic. 

Annie glowered. “You really didn’t.”

She shoved a piece of paper into Annie’s hands. “I did. Now here, take a printout of the latest reviews. There’s not that many, but we can still learn something from them.” 

_ Right. We can learn how to end my life via slow and excruciating death. _

Annie could already hear Ymir and Krista giggling as they read ahead, positive that they were reading the anonymous comment. She ignored them, her palms sweating inside her hoodie pocket. 

“Okay, so we’ve only got three new ones. Which means Levi needs to do a better job on social media promotion. But anyway, let’s take a look. The first one reads, “ _ Very pleased with The Sunny Bean. It was my first time in and Sasha, the barista, was very friendly. The cranberry orange scone and breakfast blend coffee that she recommended was just perfect. Will be returning again because of her bright smile and knowledge of the products!”  _ Hanji read, nodding her head in agreement. 

“This is a perfect example of the reviews that we want to get. Sasha was able to make a customer happy with her demeanor and knowledge. Because of that, we got a couple things: a sale, a happy customer, and more prospective earnings. The customer was happy enough to write a review, which means they’ll most likely tell their friends who will also visit, and buy our coffee. Sasha has planted a seed for us that will hopefully grow into a tree of money,” Hanji said.

She continued onto the next one. “Now, the following review is in sharp contrast to this one. It reads, “ _The Sunny Bean is garbage!!_ ”

Ymir snorted.

“ _I will never come back. The barista, Annie, was so rude. When I asked her if the coffee was gluten free, she said “What do you think?” and when I said “Excuse me?” She said that if I was following a gluten free diet, shouldn’t I have a good general knowledge on what food items are gluten free or not. Very nervy. I skipped the coffee then and asked if she had recommendations for anything else, and she said not really. That was the last straw for me. I came in for a nice cup of coffee but left with a sour taste in my mouth because of that trash can Annie_.” Hanji lowered the paper, raising an eyebrow at Annie. 

“Annie, were you being a trash can?” Hanji teased. 

“Apparently so,” Annie responded, ready to defend herself, but Hanji seemed to not be too bothered by the review. 

“Well, it was within reason. This is not the kind of review we want on our page. But simultaneously, this is not the type of customer we want in here anyway. I’m guessing this customer was snippy and the type to hold up a line, were they not, Annie?”

“Oh, she definitely was,” Annie affirmed, curling her lip at the thought of the ridiculous customer. 

“So this can also be looked at as a good thing. If Annie had patronized this annoying person, they would have continued to come along with their attitude, ruining the vibe of the shop and souring the moods of other customers and my employees. That customer is the type of person who’d complain to get free stuff. So I don’t even want them here anyway. Nice job, Annie. Stick to your guns,” Hanji said, saluting Annie. 

Annie nodded, glad that Hanji had taken her side on that one. It could go either way, and sometimes it really was Annie’s fault when a customer complained, but the one in question was just a bad apple. 

But now that they were at the last review, Annie’s throat tightened up, her whole body tensing as she tried her damn hardest to appear casual. 

“Okay, looks like this is the last one here...oh, this is interesting. From anonymous. How fancy.” Hanji’s eyebrows wiggled. 

Annie was wishing for a hole to open up beneath her feet and drag her to hell. Surely it would be better than this. Every nerve in her body was screaming at her to stay put, to not look up, but she knew Mikasa would read her whether she looked up or not. The only difference was that Annie wouldn’t be able to see Mikasa’s reaction. And she had to see it, if only to get closure. 

She drew in a breath as quietly as possible, successful in not making it shaky, before she looked up at Mikasa as Hanji read the review. “ _I really like the blonde barista. She’s cute even though she doesn’t know it, and makes great coffee._ ”

The shop was silent for a beat before Ymir began hooting. “Oohhh man!”

Hanji chuckled. “Well, we already had a review about Sasha and Annie. This one must be for you, Krista!”

Annie's predetermined scenario was not playing out, because Mikasa was not looking up. Her eyes were boring into the table and Annie did not know what the hell to do. So she shifted her eyes to Ymir and Krista, rolling them to make it seem like she was exasperated with the pair instead of worrying over Mikasa’s complete lack of a reaction. Until Mikasa spoke, making Annie’s heart stop.

“What makes you think it’s about Krista?

Annie’s mouth was dry, her stomach tumbling as she wore a passive mask outwardly.  _ Oh my god. Oh my GOD. Is this happening? _

“Hmm?” Hanji murmured, confused.

“There are two blondes at this coffee shop, so how can we assume the comment is directed at Krista?” Mikasa said, finally looking up at Annie. 

But Annie was breaking her plan again, and had her gaze trained elsewhere, only noticing Mikasa out of the corner of her eye. She couldn’t bring herself to look right at her, not now. Her heart was pounding at the implications laced between Mikasa’s words. It was almost sure confirmation that she’d wrote it. And wrote it for Annie.The room was stiflingly silent, and Annie swallowed thickly, betraying her nervousness. She knew Mikasa saw it. 

Ymir burst out into laughter, and Annie’s heart and hopes sank in one fell swoop.

“We can assume it’s about Krista because I wrote it,” Ymir said, holding up a hand to take responsibility. “Isn’t it mysterious and romantic?"

Hanji sighed. “Ymir, please don’t use the review site to write secret messages about your girlfriend. However, thank you for the five star review. It helps even out our average.”

All of a sudden, Annie was uncomfortably warm, and her palms were clammy. Her limbs felt heavy, like she had invisible weights bearing down on her, and she longed to scream into a pillow until she lost her breath and fall into a comatose-like state of sleep. She yanked her hoodie away from her neck, feeling it beginning to suffocate her. She felt so very stupid. She, who prided herself on staying distant and indifferent, had let herself believe that someone liked her for just a moment. And now she remembered why she never let herself have feelings.

“Mikasa, let’s talk training!” Annie heard Hanji say, but the sound was muffled as the ringing in Annie’s ears drowned her voice out. 

She couldn’t bear to stay around for this. She needed to leave and go home. She needed to get away from Mikasa.

Annie got up from her chair, catching a look at the black-haired girl just briefly before she turned around and went for the door, barely registering Ymir’s footsteps following her. 

Mikasa had something that looked like concern, even remorse, in her eyes and it made Annie’s skin crawl.

_ I made myself look vulnerable. Childish. I let myself fall. And look how it ended up. I can’t let this happen again. Ever. _

Never again could Annie entertain delusions of grandeur. She couldn’t lose herself to false hopes and what-ifs. She couldn’t like Mikasa, not if it was going to be like this. She could not handle the highs and lows, and she could not let Mikasa in behind the strong walls she had built over the years. 

And if Annie didn’t want to like her, she’d just have to hate her.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> good thing the title is So I Don't Hate You. damn that little heartbreak hitting Annie HARD
> 
> sorry for any typos or weird sentences. its 1 am here and i just wanted to feed you all this chapter. i'll read it over 80 times within the next few days for typos. Summer session is almost over. good luck to all those in classes right now! I spelled Gandhi wrong in a paper and got called out for it, how was your week? lol
> 
> I <3 MIKANNI. reminder i am on tumblr at annies-hoodie, come talk to me about Annie and also follow for updates on  
> my progress with this story. 
> 
> have a good week everyone! thanks for the continued support. it helps me and motivates me so much.


	6. Chapter 6

Ymir pushed open the door that Annie had roughly closed, hot on her heels as the blonde made her way to the backside of the building. It hadn’t taken long for Ymir to connect the dots with what had just happened. She remembered Annie reading reviews before the meeting, and remembered her acting very differently after that, though she hadn’t known why at the time. Now, Annie’s reaction to Ymir’s joke review for Krista made everything clear. Annie had thought that someone had written it for her. And that someone that Annie had been hoping for was Mikasa, if her glare to the other girl before parting was of any indication.

Ymir was taken aback the first few seconds the idea set in. Had Annie really taken a liking to Mikasa? Despite all her indifference? Ymir must have not been paying good enough attention to her friend to realize it. Then again, Annie was always so damn hard to read, Ymir didn’t even bother most of the time. In her defense, Annie hadn’t seemed enthused about the picture of Mikasa that Ymir sent her the day before. In fact, she seemed completely annoyed at the mention of the black-haired girl. Maybe Annie herself hadn’t even realized the creeping affection until the feelings of disappointment hit her all at once.

“Annie, wait up,” Ymir called, reaching out to to grab Annie’s sleeve. Annie roughly jerked her arm away from Ymir, but she slowed down nonetheless.

Annie eventually stopped but did not turn around, and Ymir took it as a cue to speak. “I’m sorry.”

Was that the right thing to say? Ymir didn’t know. She _was_ sorry. Sorry that she hadn’t realized Annie’s feelings, sorry that her joke had backfired, sorry that she wasn’t the Anonymous that Annie was looking for. She wanted Annie to know that.

Annie was silent for a few beats. “There’s nothing to be sorry for.”

She began walking again but Ymir called her again. “Annie.”

Ymir had been fully expecting Annie to keep on going, but to her surprise, Annie whipped around, her facial features a controlled calm, but she was barely holding it together. Ymir could see that anger and hurt in her eyes, her jaw set as she gritted her teeth. “What do you want, Ymir? I just want to go home.”

Ymir averted her gaze, not able to hold eye contact with Annie. She felt bad. Even though she couldn’t have had any way of knowing that this would be the outcome of her lame online jest, she still felt horrible for putting Annie in this state. “I….I-”

“I’m not mad at you, so stop feeling sorry for yourself.” Annie cut her off, leaving Ymir with her mouth open mid-sentence.

If Annie wasn’t mad at her, who could possibly be bearing the brunt of her anger?

“Then who?” Ymir asked.

Annie’s face was stone. “Mikasa. I hate her.”

Ymir furrowed her eyebrows, confused. “What? Why?”

“I’m not getting into it,” Annie said curtly, pulling her hoodie on and turning to leave. As she began walking, Ymir followed by her side.

“Annie. She didn’t have anything to do with this.” Ymir reasoned. She didn’t want Mikasa to have to deal with Annie’s wrath just because of a misunderstanding, especially if they’d be working together. Annie always needed someone to blame when something bad happened, and Ymir wanted it to be herself rather than Mikasa. She was innocent in all of this. Plus, if Annie had liked her a little before, she’d most certainly destroy any chance with Mikasa in the future if she treated her coldly from now on because of a dumb joke gone wrong.

“I said I’m not getting into it. You should get back, Krista’s probably looking for you,” Annie said, her tone even and unfeeling. It was like she was on autopilot, trying to deflect Ymir. But Ymir wasn’t going to have it today. Not at Mikasa’s expense. She barely knew the girl but she knew Annie (as well as one could know Annie), and she was not about to sit back and watch her friend burn bridges with someone who could end up being a great friend, or even more, in the future.

“Fine. Don’t get into it. But at least hear me out,” Ymir said as the two reached a corner. “Don’t do it like this.”

Annie rolled her eyes, but Ymir pressed on. “Annie, come on. I get that you’re disappointed. But if you take this out on her now, you’ll regret it later. Besides, you have to work with her moving forward, so make things a little easier for yourself and forget about all of this.”

“She shouldn’t have made it seem like it was her,” Annie said, casting her eyes downward.

Ymir thought back at how Mikasa had argued that the comment could be directed at Annie, not just Krista. It seemed innocent enough to her at the time, but knowing how Annie felt now, she could see things from her friend’s perspective. Still, Mikasa couldn’t have possibly known about Annie’s burgeoning feelings. She was just coming to her defense to be nice. But Ymir knew Annie wouldn’t see it like that any time soon. Nonetheless, she was determined to smooth over the situation, for the sake of all those involved.

“Annie. The fact that she even said anything at all shows that she cares,” Ymir reasoned.

Annie continued staring at the ground, impatience radiating from her rigid posture and crossed arms.

Ymir sighed. “Don’t create problems where there are none.”

Annie’s nose wrinkled, and she looked up at Ymir with annoyance. “Are you done?”

Ymir looked at her. It was clear that no amount of words would get through to Annie. She’d said her piece, and that was about all she could do. Now it was up to Annie on how to move forward. Ymir hoped at the very least that she’d at least given her something to think about. “Yeah, I’m done. Just give her another chance, okay?”

She didn’t wait to see Annie’s reaction and walked away, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

* * *

Mikasa watched Annie leave, a heavy feeling settling in her stomach as she recalled the look in Annie’s eyes just moments before. It had been one of stoic contempt...the combination of hurt and steely complacency had sent a chill down Mikasa’s spine.

But...why? How? She’d defended her. It had been wrong of Hanji to assume that a comment referring to a cute blonde barista automatically referred to Krista. Annie was also a cute blonde barista. And Mikasa felt that she needed to point that out not only because it was true, but to make Annie feel better too. So what had sparked such an adverse reaction from Annie?

She replayed the past half hour in her head, searching for the moment that had made Annie’s demeanor change from, dare she say, hopeful, to heavy apathetic-ness.

_“There are two blondes at this coffee shop, so how can we assume the comment is directed at Krista?”_

After she had spoken, she recalled that Annie’s eyes had widened just slightly. So slightly that Mikasa was sure no one would have been able to catch it but her. And she had held her gaze as Annie barely hid her nervousness. But when Ymir took credit for the comment, it was as if Mikasa was watching Annie physically close in on herself, her expression hardening back into a clean slate, mouth closed in a tight line.

_Disappointment._

_With Ymir? No. She had to be used to Ymir’s jokes by now. Then the only logical person left would be….me. For...not being the one who actually wrote the review?_

Mikasa wrinkled her forehead, thinking hard. And then she remembered that Annie had asked her if she wrote reviews often before the staff meeting, basically confirming that she had suspected Mikasa. Her heart stopped as she realized the implications behind it all.

_Wait. Does Annie... like me? As in, a crush?_

Mikasa shook her head slightly as if to ward of such an idea. There was no way. No way.

But what else could be plausible? Mikasa supposed her defense of Annie could be viewed as laced with certain undertones and intentions if one was seeking them out. And if Annie had been looking at it from that angle, thinking that maybe, Mikasa’s defense could be read as confirmation that she’d wrote it, then that basically meant she had been hoping that Mikasa thought she was cute. Mikasa brought a hand to her forehead, wondering how she had found herself in this situation.

_Oh my god...how did this even….when did this “crush”, if that’s what it is, happen? Could it really be? She seemed annoyed by me the few times we’ve met, staunchly apathetic at best. How could I have missed the signs that she liked me? I don’t miss signs. Then again, I haven’t been able to get a good read on her thus far. I can’t believe--_

“Hey, Mikasa.” Krista interrupted Mikasa’s maelstrom of thoughts, and she stared at the blonde, out of focus for a moment before blinking, giving Krista her full attention.

_Think about it later, Mikasa. Focus on what’s in front of you._

“Hey.”

Krista eyed Mikasa unsteadily before she continued. “Um...Hanji wants to know if these days work for training.”

She handed Mikasa a piece of paper that had a list of upcoming dates on it, the soonest starting just a few days from now. Mikasa bit her lip when she saw that Annie’s name was written next to most of the dates.

“You’ll be training with Annie mostly, since she closes most often,” Krista explained, noticing Mikasa’s intense scrutinization of the paper.

“Hm.” It was all Mikasa could manage, her mind already thinking ahead to how she could navigate the newly murky waters between her and Annie. It was bound to be awkward after today, and Mikasa was going to have to figure out how to approach her if she had any hope of keeping her very new job and salvaging any sort of relationship with Annie. But where to even begin?

“Are you okay?” Krista said, concern etched into her features. “Listen, if this is about Annie, I can help you out. She’s not as scary as she seems.”

Mikasa sighed. “I think she’s really mad at me.”

Krista let out a laugh. “Oh, are you talking about the death stare she gave you a few minutes ago? Don’t worry.She does that all the time. She’ll cool down soon enough. But I’m wondering; what did you do to earn that kind of glare?”

Mikasa bit her lip, not knowing if she should disclose her hunch to Krista. But then again, Krista might be able to give her some information on Annie’s way of thinking, or at least give her a hint as to what to do next. She decided to take the risk. “I think Annie was hoping I had written that review about her. And when Ymir took credit, she got really disheartened. And I feel really bad about it, like I led her on by insinuating I wrote it when I pointed it out it could have been meant for her.”

Krista smiled. “I know.”

Mikasa blinked. “You know?”

Krista rocked back on her heels, looking proud of herself. “Yep! I just wanted to see if you knew. Good job reading between those lines; you’re going to be doing a lot of that when dealing with Annie.”

Mikasa nodded thoughtfully. “I don’t mind that. But what I don’t want to do is start things off like this. Any idea on how I can make this better with her? Seeing as how we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other from now on.”

“Oh, I know _exactly_ what you should do,” Krista said matter-of-factly. “Ask for her phone number!”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Mikasa frowned, wondering how that could possibly go well considering Annie’s current feelings of hatred towards her.

“Absolutely. Open a line of communication with her. It’s the perfect solution,” Krista said, patting Mikasa on the shoulder. “Trust me; I’m well versed in Annie 101. And here’s my number. Let me know if you need anything. I hate to cut this short, but I have to get going now; Ymir’s waiting for me outside! I’ll see you soon though. I’m really so happy you are joining our team. You’re so much better than Jean.”

Krista took the paper from Mikasa’s hands and scrawled her number underneath the training schedule. “Okay, I’ll see you later!"

Mikasa waved as she left, the door chiming behind her as the door swung closed.

_Well, this was a better start then nothing._

Mikasa would get Annie’s phone number, but first she’d have to find Annie. 

As she picked up her bag to leave, Hanji’s loud voice startled her from the office. “MIKASA!!!!”

Mikasa turned around, cautiously walking towards the office. “Yes?”

Before she could go any further, Hanji jumped out from inside the office, startling her again. “Hi! Listen, I’m so happy to get you started here. If you ever need anything, call me, text me, page me, fax me at absolutely any time of the day. I rarely sleep so you can usually expect a prompt reply.”

Hanji smiled brightly at her, giving her a thumbs up. Mikasa nodded, returning her thumbs up for good measure. 

Hanji squealed. “No one ever does it back!! See, this is why I like you. Oh, and before I let you go, are you able to attend the going away party for Jean? It looks like we’ve settled on next weekend. I think it’d be the perfect opportunity to introduce you to everyone and get you acquainted.”

“Sure, I’ll be there,” Mikasa said, knowing that all her upcoming weekends would be free after Eren and Armin left in a few days.

“Whoo hoo! Awesome. I’ll make sure to order enough pizza. So, kiddo, any questions at all before you scoot off today?”

“Yes. Do you know where Annie is?” Mikasa asked.

“That, my dear, is the question of the century. Where in the world is Annie? She’s an elusive one. But today, it’s easy. See, her car is still parked out front. So she’s going to have to come back some time for it after she stormed off so rudely. Sorry about that, by the way. She’s not usually like that. Well, she is, but...never mind...oh! She's actually getting in her car right now!”

Hanji pointed out front, and Mikasa whirled around, her eyes widening as she saw Annie fumble with her keys to open her door. Her pulse began to speed up and she turned around, shaking Hanji’s hand and speaking quickly. “I’ve got to go now, Hanji, but thank you for your time and the opportunity to work with you. I look forward to it. Have a nice day!”

She hated to leave so informally, but she couldn’t let Annie go. She could hear Hanji’s “Catch ya later, alligator!” as she sprinted to the front, watching Annie get in her car and start it. Mikasa barreled through the doors and ran up to Annie’s car as she slowly began to pull out of her parking space, tapping on the hood with her palm frantically.

“Annie! Annie, hold on!”

Mikasa panted as she pleaded with Annie, the blonde looking like she was contemplating putting the car in drive and mowing Mikasa over. But after a moment she rolled her eyes and threw her head back, turning off the engine and rolling down the window.

Mikasa sighed in relief and walked over the the driver’s side, crouching down to get face to face with Annie.

“Hey.”

Annie scoffed. “Are you serious? What do you want?”

“Your phone number,” Mikasa said, tucking her hair behind her ear as she caught her breath. “Please.”

Annie’s lip curled with contempt. “Are you kidding me? I don’t want to play games with you. I’m leaving.”

“Annie, no! Wait,” Mikasa said, putting her hand on the car door. “I don't play games. I really do want your number. I want to talk to you.”

“What if I don’t want to talk to you?” Annie said without looking at her.

Despite herself, the words hurt Mikasa’s heart but she chose to believe Annie didn’t mean them. “Then you don’t have to reply to my messages when I send them. I won’t be mad if you don’t. I don't care if you hate me, as long as you hear me out.”

Annie closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, looking like she was fighting some kind of internal battle. She inhaled through her nose and then exhaled through her mouth, opening her eyes. “Fine. Fine. It’s 322-1044. I’m leaving now, so bye. But I won’t leave till you get away from the car, so you should do that.”

Mikasa fought a smile, relief watching over her. “Okay. 322-1044. Got it. Thanks, Annie.”

She stepped away from the car promptly, and looked at Annie.

_Should I say bye? Should I wave? Should I do nothing?_

Mikasa stood with her hands glued to her sides hoping Annie would make a move, but she was just staring back at her with a blank expression. Then she looked up towards her ceiling and continued to avert her eyes at anywhere _but_ Mikasa and reversed slowly, rolling up her window and driving away.

Mikasa shrugged to herself, putting her phone in her pocket. The exchange had gone way better than she’d expected, and now that she had Annie’s number she was one step closer to smoothing things over between them and starting fresh.

As she got in her car, repeating Annie's number to herself, Mikasa wondered why she was so determined to make sure Annie was okay, that she did right by her. But she knew deep down that she wanted to salvage their fledgling friendship for reasons other than being amicable co-workers. Her gut feeling was telling her to pursue whatever it was in the air between them; subtle as it currently may be, she couldn’t let Annie cut her off just yet, not when there was still so much she wanted to learn about the blonde.

She allowed herself a smile as she typed in Annie’s name and number into her phone contacts, and began the drive home, already thinking of what time she should text Annie later. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the phone number is annies birthdate +104th corps + her ranking lolol


	7. Chapter 7

It wasn’t until Mikasa was in bed later that night that she decided to text Annie. She had wanted to give her some space before texting her, and she figured she’d waited long enough. After getting Annie’s number, the rest of her day had consisted of pondering over the best sentence opener, leading her to the conclusion that a straightforward and clean demeanor would be the best approach to the conversation. **  
**

Choosing to start out with a simple “ _Hey._ ”, Mikasa snuggled deeper into her blankets and turned down the brightness on her phone, the harsh white glow of the screen burning her eyes amidst her otherwise dark room.

After a few minutes went by with no reply from Annie, Mikasa began to grow worried. Had she said too much? Went too far? No...she had been as nonchalant as possible. What was more amicable than a simple “hey”?

_Maybe she gave me a fake number to shut me up. That would suck...because that’d mean she really does hate me._

She shifted uncomfortably, lying on her side as she stared at her phone, waiting for a notification. As the minutes crept by, Mikasa suddenly began to feel stupid, wondering if she’d made a fool out of herself earlier.

 _The whole day I did nothing but aggravate Annie. I had just wanted to go in for a coffee and check up on her, but instead inadvertently hurt her feelings and came on too heavy in the parking lot afterwards. I’m such-_ -

Her phone lit up with a new message notification and Mikasa instantly bolted upright into a sitting position, her heart racing. After messing up her lockscreen password three times in her excitement, she finally reached her inbox.

> **Annie:** who is this

Mikasa frowned before she remembered that the response was warranted.

_That’s right - I have her number but she doesn’t have mine. No wonder she took so long to reply. She was probably contemplating deleting the message or something. Good thing she didn’t or I probably wouldn’t have been able to sleep the rest of the night._

Mikasa replied quickly.

> **Mikasa:** It’s Mikasa Ackerman, the one that wears the red scarf.

Satisfied with the description of herself, Mikasa relaxed her posture a bit and eased back into her pillows. She was surprised when a new message arrived not even a minute later.

> **Annie:** oh right. THAT mikasa.

Mikasa raised an eyebrow.

> **Mikasa:** THAT Mikasa? Do you know other Mikasa’s?

Once again, Annie wasted no time replying.

>   **Annie:** tons

Mikasa smirked, playing along.

> **Mikasa:** But I’m the coolest, right?

This time, though, Annie did not reply quickly. Five whole minutes passed with no reply from her, and Mikasa found herself back to square one, nervous and hashing through every possible reason why Annie wasn’t texting back in her head.

_Maybe she’s showering. No, not at almost midnight. Well, maybe. She could be a night shower person. Or maybe she’s thinking of a response, or doesn’t want to continue the conversation because I made it weird, or she fell asleep. Either way...I can’t let the conversation die...maybe I should change the subject - cut to the chase and apologize to her; the reason I asked for her number in the first place._

She typed out a message and read it in her head, not yet ready to press the send button.

_I’m sorry about today. I didn’t mean to be confusing, I just wanted everyone to know that you’re pretty too._

Wrinkling her nose, Mikasa quickly erased the text. That would be the totally wrong approach regardless of it’s honesty. She tried again.

_Today I’m worried I overstepped some boundaries. I should have kept my mouth closed during the staff meeting, especially concerning you. I had the best of intentions when trying to defend you, but it wasn’t my place to comment, since I don’t know you well enough yet. Though now that I’m working with you, I hope that can change._

She read it aloud quietly a few times, making sure she had all her bases covered. It was important to her that Annie knew she was sorry for hurting her feelings and making her uncomfortable. At the same time, she wanted to word it so that it didn’t seem like she had figured out exactly _why_ Annie had felt hurt. She had a hunch that if she called Annie out on her feelings, she’d surely close Mikasa out forever and they’d never have any hope of being friends.

Taking a deep breath, Mikasa hoped for the best and pressed the send button, and followed up with another message shortly thereafter.

> **Mikasa:** Today I’m worried I overstepped some boundaries. I should have kept my mouth closed during the staff meeting, especially concerning you. I had the best of intentions when trying to defend you, but it wasn’t my place to comment, since I don’t know you well enough yet. Though now that I’m working with you, I hope that can change.
> 
> **Mikasa:** Also, I’m sorry for the message about being cool. That was dumb.

The tank top and shorts she slept in felt uncomfortably scratchy and warm all of a sudden, so Mikasa flung her blankets off and began pacing her room, awaiting Annie’s response. Luckily, she only had to wait a few minutes before a new string of messages arrived, her phone chiming four times in a row.

> **Annie:** Mikasa i can’t believe u just made me read all of that
> 
> **Annie:** and dont worry about it. Its okay
> 
> **Annie:** Also for the other message, it was dumb only bc you’re not cool but thats okay too
> 
> **Annie:** anyway whens your first training day and with who

Mikasa let out a breath, relief washing over her at Annie’s response. She had half expected the other girl to not reply, but she had lucked out with a quadruple message response. She smiled to herself as she replied to Annie.

> **Mikasa:** It’s on Monday, and you’re training me.

Feeling much better, Mikasa flopped back onto her bed and snuggled into her blankets once more. Annie had replied; that in itself was a good sign. And even if Mikasa wasn’t one hundred percent convinced that Annie was truly okay with her, she seemed willing enough to continue talking to her.

_This seriously turned out way better than I had expected._

Her phone chimed and Mikasa opened a new message from Annie.

> **Annie:** lucky me.

She didn’t follow up with anything else, and Mikasa was wondering if she should just be thankful for the progress she’d made and go to bed, but Annie sent another message a few seconds later.

> **Annie:** im going to bed now bc im tired so see u monday

Mikasa typed out a response, going back and forth between adding a smile emoji after the words, and ultimately decided to go for it.

> **Mikasa:** Goodnight. :)
> 
> **Annie:** dont ever send me that creepy smiley face ever again or im blocking your number

Mikasa stifled a laugh at the overreaction. She had a feeling that Annie wasn’t an emoji type of person, but that was the sole reason why she’d added it. And why she’d definitely always use them in the future when texting Annie.

> **Mikasa:** Okay.

Not able to resist, she sent a wink face.

> **Mikasa:** ;)

_Annie will probably roll her eyes as soon as she reads this._

> **Annie:** THATS SOMEHOW WORSE. go to bed !!!!!!

Amused, Mikasa shook her head with a smile and typed out her last message for the night.

> **Mikasa:** Okay. See you on Monday.

She put her phone face down on her nightstand and plugged in the charger, her mood much lighter than it had been before she’d texted Annie. Though she wished they could have talked more, text messaging was hardly the best form of communication to have a heart to heart, and maybe that was for the better. Maybe what happened today didn’t need to be hashed out to death; maybe they both just needed to time to sleep on it and move on. Maybe this whole day had just been a weird fluke, and they’d look back on it remembering how oversensitive they’d been. At least, Mikasa hoped so. She refused to let mixed signals and misconstrued actions ruin their friendship before it even started. Mikasa was determined to start over with Annie. And tonight was a definite step in the right direction.

* * *

 

> **Mikasa:** Okay. See you on Monday.

Annie blinked, still in shock that Mikasa had actually texted her. And to apologize, nonetheless. She was actually kind of mad. After she had firmly decided to hate Mikasa just a few hours earlier, Mikasa conveniently decided to be friendly and charming and sensible and Annie was trying really _really_ hard not to wind up back at square one, aka kinda sorta crushing on Mikasa. Which was what got her into this dumb awkward mess anyway. So she absolutely needed to turn those feelings off and turn cool, apathetic and unapproachable Annie on.

Before Mikasa had texted her, she’d spent a lot of time thinking about Ymir’s words, about how maybe she was overreacting and should give Mikasa the benefit of the doubt. And Annie could see that. She really could. The more she replayed the day over in her head, the more she realized that she was more mad at herself then she was at Mikasa. She had been overeager and jittery, totally not in control of anything. And she’d tried so hard to keep her cool, but it seemed like Mikasa could see through her efforts, which made Annie unravel even more. She could feel Mikasa reading her like a book just from a simple look into her eyes, and that pissed her off, scared her, and perplexed her at the same time. Annie, who prided herself on her impenetrable demeanor, had been easily figured out by Mikasa. It infuriated her, because she had been vulnerable. She had slipped up too many times, and Mikasa had registered every single one of the cracks in Annie’s defenses. Annie had seen it in her eyes. Even if she hadn’t figured out that Annie had been hoping she’d wrote the review as Annie stormed out, she was positive she’d piece it together after, and her apology message confirmed it:

_Today I’m worried I overstepped some boundaries. I should have kept my mouth closed during the staff meeting, especially concerning you. I had the best of intentions when trying to defend you, but it wasn’t my place to comment, since I don’t know you well enough yet. Though now that I’m working with you, I hope that can change._

Annie could see that Mikasa had worded the apology carefully. Too carefully. She had made sure not to mention anything about Annie’s feelings, instead focusing on herself and her actions. Which, Annie had to say, was a smart move, and thoughtful that she made an effort to save Annie further embarrassment. But the absence of any mention of Annie’s glares or stormy leave spoke volumes.

_A normal person would text me saying, why did you look so pissed off today? Or, are you mad at me? Why did you leave like that?_

_But Mikasa doesn’t have to ask any of that, because she knows why I acted the way I did. And she knew if she confronted me about it, about my stupid short lived crush on her, I’d of course deny it and the damage would be irreparable. Not to mention it’d be awkward as hell. So instead she sidestepped it all by explaining her intentions, shouldering all the responsibility for the misunderstanding, and leaving the ball in my court by the end of the apology with a peace offering._

Annie shook her head in disbelief. Mikasa was so weird.

_Who the hell picks up on all of that? Besides me, of course._

Mikasa’s perceptiveness unnerved Annie. It felt like she had met her match, a prospect which also piqued her curiosity. There was a part of her that was interested to see just how much of herself Mikasa could figure out, though it’d be much harder moving forward. Annie was determined to have her guard up at all times around the other girl. She would not let a repeat of today happen ever again, and she’d keep a distant, cordial at best work relationship with Mikasa from now on. With that in mind, Annie had replied to Mikasa’s apology, telling her that everything was okay. She had tired herself out mulling over the day’s events and didn’t want to dwell on it further, anyway.

_Monday will be the start of a new me. Well, not a new me. The return of the old me, is more like it. No feelings, no worries. Not a care in the world, focusing on no one but myself. That’s just how it’s going to be. How it has to be, for my own sake._

Annie fell asleep determined to reinforce the walls she’d built for so many years, willing herself to never let Mikasa get through again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is short, im sorry!! looks like these two are going to approach the relationship in different ways and we'll see how it plays out...


	8. Chapter 8

Annie had kind of expected Mikasa to be annoyingly good at being a barista, but she hadn’t expected her to be this good. **  
**

Mikasa had just pulled her tenth perfect espresso shot in a row after Annie had lectured her on how hard it was to get it just right.

She herself had even messed up a few shots while demonstrating the technique, so not only was Mikasa being perfect annoying, but also embarrassing for Annie.

For her part, Mikasa wasn’t rubbing her skills in Annie’s face or anything. But then again, she wasn’t the type of person to do that anyway. However, her respectfulness and tact only served to infuriate Annie more.

After Mikasa effortlessly pulled another perfect shot like it was second nature, Annie took the portafilter from her.

“Okay, clearly you get the concept. Since you’re so good at this, you can just go home now.”

Mikasa blinked. “Really?”

Annie wished. “No. But I’m running out of stuff to show you since you can miraculously do everything on the first try.”

Mikasa didn’t answer, instead picked up a cleaning rag and proceeded to wipe down the area around the espresso grinder. An area that Annie had happened to clean just minutes ago.

“I already cleaned around that.”

Mikasa glanced briefly over her shoulder at Annie before she continued to clean. “It’s still dirty.”

_Oh, so Mikasa’s going to tell me how to do my job now? That’s funny. That’s hilarious, even._

“I think I know when a counter is clean or not,” Anne shot back.

Mikasa stopped abruptly (and slightly dramatically, if you asked Annie), as if to make it clear she was appeasing a ridiculous command and haphazardly threw the rag onto the counter. It landed with a wet _splat_. “Fine.”

She stood there, staring at Annie with thinly veiled irritation, her positivity having waned as the day wore on.

This was, of course, Annie’s doing.

Mikasa had been on time for her first day of training, eager to learn hands-on what it was like to be a barista. She had done everything a newbie should do...ask questions, try things herself, even volunteer to do things. She seemed determined to be on Annie’s good side, and if Annie had been a normal functioning person, she definitely would have earned her favor.

Unfortunately for her, Annie was a complicated and moody person who was not in the mood to dole out praise. When it came to Mikasa, she was determined to stick to her motto of co-workers and nothing more following their text conversation. So every time Mikasa would hand her a cup, she’d reach past her and grab one herself. Everytime Mikasa had a question, she’d point to the answer in the training manual. Every time Mikasa did something correctly, she’d earn an eye roll or look of contempt from Annie. She had even graduated to sarcastic comments now, and she could tell Mikasa was getting really fed up.

All according to Annie’s plan.

If she could get Mikasa to hate her, then they could be locked in a mutual relationship of hatred and only speak to each other when needed. No complications, no strings attached. Life would be instantly easier.

But Mikasa was persistent. She walked up to Annie, noticing her miffed expression, and leveled her with an even stare.

“If I did something wrong, which, judging by your expression, must have been something terrible, you need to tell me so I don’t keep doing it. I don’t want to get fired.”

Annie didn’t spare her a glance as she walked past her, going over to the rag she’d tossed on the counter and folded it, just to be extra petty.

Every move she was making was purposely engineered to irritate Mikasa, but she had yet to garner a good reaction sans an annoyed stare or two. She needed to push her over the edge, so she decided to move on to Phase Two: Putting Mikasa in a situation where she’d surely fail.

“You’re not doing anything wrong. But you are going to handle the next transaction entirely by yourself.”

Mikasa didn’t look intimidated, even though she had yet to speak directly to a customer let alone work the cash register.

Annie wasn’t surprised. _But...that confidence of hers will vanish soon enough._

They stood at a stalemate for a few moments until the familiar chime of the door rang. Mikasa’s eyes shifted to the door as a customer came in; meanwhile Annie stepped back and leaned on the counter, crossing her arms. She watched as Mikasa stood firmly in front of the coffee pump pots, looking as if she was about to bravely face her greatest enemy.

The customer, a man dressed in frumpy business wear that looked to be in his early fourties, hovered awkwardly in front of Mikasa. He avoided eye contact with her as he looked at the menu written on the board behind her.

Annie counted as one full minute went by in complete silence, Mikasa’s eyes never wavering from the man while his eyes flickered to her only once before he quickly looked away.

Annie was utterly amused. She didn’t know what she had been expecting; since Mikasa had been perfect at everything she’d attempted so far, a part of Annie had assumed that she’d be naturally good at customer service as well. But now, taking Mikasa’s intensity and bluntness into consideration, she realized she’d definitely picked the right situation to get Mikasa out of her element. Instead of being helpful or welcoming, Mikasa was unintentionally intimidating the shit out of the customer. And Annie was so here for it.  

When another minute of heavy silence passed, and Annie was sure the customer was about to combust from awkwardness, she spoke shortly to Mikasa. “Acknowledge his existence.”

Right away Mikasa complied. “Of course. Hello sir. How may I assist you today?”

Annie almost snorted at the overly formal greeting.

The man seemed unaffected by her clipped tone, and instead looked relieved to finally be spoken to. “I...uh, a coffee, please.”

Mikasa began speaking just as he finished his last syllable.“Absolutely. Can I interest you in a dark or mild roast today? I could also propose a decaffeinated variety if it would be of interest to you.”

Mikasa sounded like she was addressing someone at a business conference rather than a customer. Annie got comfortable, hopping onto her bar stool as she watched the exchange unfold.

“I guess mild would be good,” the man said. “How much do I owe you?”

“That would depend on the size you wish to order. I can offer you a small 12 ounce, medium 16 ounce or large 20 ounce cup. Which one would suit you best?” Mikasa maintained intense eye contact again making the man appear uneasy.

“I uh...I suppose a 12 ounce would be fine,” he picked at his sleeve as Mikasa nodded curtly.

“Of course. Please step down to your left and I will have your coffee prepared momentarily.”

As the man hurried over to the register, Annie watched Mikasa prepare the coffee at a breakneck pace. She reached for a cup with her left hand and placed it under the pump pot, then pressed down on the top of the pot to fill the cup. While it poured, she reached for a sleeve and lid with her right hand. Annie amusedly noted her speed, thinking of her own leisurely pace when she prepared drinks. The same task would have taken her twice as long; Annie liked to make the customer sweat it out. But Mikasa was making an effort to go above and beyond. Just as soon as Annie blinked Mikasa had finished with the coffee, already down at the register.

“Your total today for one small coffee is going to be $1.89,” Mikasa announced, placing the coffee in front of the man.

She waited patiently as he fished two dollar bills out of his wallet, and had eleven cents in change held out to him even before he’d handed her his money.

“Wow...um, you’re fast,” the customer mumbled, taking his coffee and exiting the store.

Mikasa stood with the two dollar bills, swiping the cash register screen continuously.

Annie made no move to help. _She must be looking for the Point of Sale icon. She’ll find it eventually. Maybe. There’s a lot of dumb shit loaded on that thing, including every single one of Sasha’s games and food apps, Jean’s visual novels and Krista’s photo editor shit. That Point of Sale icon is absolutely buried unless you know what you’re looking for. Which she doesn’t._

After a few seconds, Mikasa seemed to give up, and pushed the front of the cash drawer, trying to open it to no avail.

Annie sighed loudly. _Yeah...the drawer can’t be opened manually; only Levi has the key. It pops open automatically if you make a sale but...since she has no idea how to do that, it’s completely pointless to mess with it. It’s only a matter of time now until she gets fed up and---_

“Are there any office supplies around here?” Mikasa asked without looking at Annie.

Annie narrowed her eyes in confusion at the random question. “What? Office supplies? Why?”

“I want a rubber band to tie my hair up better, mine keeps coming loose.”

Annie thought about the few spare hair ties in her bag that she could offer. But it would undo all her hard work if she was nice to Mikasa now. Sending her on a wild goose chase for a rubber band in the shithole of a cabinet would serve her purpose beter, and add some much needed fuel to the flame.

“There’s some stuff in the cabinet right below you, top shelf.”

Mikasa crouched down and rummaged through the mess of supplies, and Annie closed her eyes, wishing she could take a nap. She was an expert at tuning out any noise around her to allow herself to doze off, so she didn’t anticipate Mikasa’s noisy search to be a problem. But after a few seconds, instead of the noise fading into oblivion, it stopped completely. Had Mikasa really found a rubber band already amidst the trash heap of junk in the cabinet?

_That will be a world record if so._

Letting her curiosity get the best of her, Annie opened her eyes to see Mikasa bending a paperclip and inserting it into the lock on the drawer.

_No way._

Mikasa was picking the lock on the cash register.

To say Annie was totally and completely impressed would be the understatement of the century.

Normal things like someone being super polite or having good manners didn’t really phase her that much; but picking a lock? That was something that Annie deemed admirable. She herself had picked Levi’s office door using a credit card a few times to steal snacks. She considered it a necessary life skill and briefly considered asking Mikasa how she’d learned the art.

But, remembering her mission to piss off the other girl, she fought her instinct to voice her approval and instead waited a few moments until the paper clip inevitably broke. Thinking that Mikasa had to be growing frustrated at this point, she decided to add in some unnecessary commentary as the icing on the cake.

“They’re too rusty to be of use. Nice try. So what are you going to do now?”

Mikasa’s jaw was set as she picked up the pieces of broken paper clip and threw them into the trash. “I wouldn’t have had to resort to that if you’d help me work the cash register.”

_Well, yeah._

But helping right off that bat would have been too hospitable. As Annie watched Mikasa’s shoulders tense, shaking her head almost imperceptibly at Annie’s indifference, Annie was annoyed to find her steadfast dedication to her mission wavering. Mikasa was pissed off. It was what Annie wanted. So why didn’t she feel accomplished or happy?

She shoved the feelings away and instead quickly deduced a logical reason for helping Mikasa. She’d help her only to make _her_ job easier, so Mikasa would stop her pathetic attempts at figuring out the register. Then she could leave Anne in peace. Yeah, that’s why she’d help.

“I guess I could help. You’ve suffered long enough,” Annie spoke up, taking her sweet time to go over to the register. Mikasa stepped aside to give her room to demonstrate, silent. But Annie saw some of the tension ease from her form, and was surprised at her own relief upon seeing Mikasa relax.

Annie straightened the screen so that they could both see, and swiped the touch screen a few times until she reached a screen that was full of restaurant chain icons. “Click on the icon on the bottom row, in the middle next to the pizza place icon.”

Mikasa did as told, and the point of sale screen popped up. “Okay. Is that going to be in the same place every time?”

“Should be,” Annie closed the point of sale screen and gestured for Mikasa to open it up again for practice. “Hanji banned any not-work-related app downloads so this should be it. But before that rule, as you can see, people went overboard. This screen is full of Sasha’s quick order apps for fast food.”

“Can’t you delete some?” Mikasa frowned as she opened the screen again.

“I wouldn’t try it. Not unless you want to die.”

Mikasa raised an eyebrow. “She likes food that much?”

Annie scoffed, thinking about her coworker who’d pick up a french fry off the dirty floor, wipe the dust off and eat it. “To put it very lightly.”

Annie closed the screen and swiped to a completely different window so she could make sure Mikasa was able to locate and remember where the point of sale icon was.

“Can’t she use her phone to order?” Mikasa asked, surveying the jumbled screens as she switched between windows, her face hardened into a mask of concentration. In a few moments she located the point of sale icon and pressed it triumphantly, her features instantly brightening.

Annie watched as Mikasa straightened up, ready to learn more as she looked at Annie expectantly. Annie felt lightheaded at the telltale flutter of butterflies in her stomach, looking down at the floor to avoid the gaze of Mikasa’s cool-colored eyes.

_This is so ridiculous. I am ridiculous. And if she thinks I’m teaching her anything else she’s got another thing coming. I’m done with charity work._

At least, that’s what she told herself. Anything to get the butterflies in her stomach to just go away and die.

“That’s what I’ve said. But that would be too easy, because, you know, people like to make things hard for themselves and others.” Annie walked away, intending to let Mikasa work through the ins and outs of the register herself, but stopped when Mikasa responded.

“In other words, kind of like you and your training of me?”

“It’s not the same--” Annie began to say, but she cut herself off abruptly.

_Don’t engage._

She had already far surpassed her allowed threshold of spoken words to Mikasa that she’d set for herself this morning. But without a thought she had easily fallen into conversation with the other girl, completely sabotaged her own mission by helping her and got fucking butterflies in her stomach just by watching Mikasa, throwing a huge wrench into her own plan. She couldn’t allow slip-ups like this, not if she was trying to craft an environment of irritation and eventually, hopefully, complete disgust and avoidance between the two of them. Banter of any sorts, help of any sorts, encouraged friendship and fostered healthy social connections. It was completely out of the question and Annie needed to be fix it fast.

“Whatever.”

Annie delivered her favorite conversation killer with an air of indifference, once again turning her back to Mikasa.

Mikasa did not offer any other words and instead stiffened as the door chime rang, announcing the arrival of a group of teen boys. Since she had only gotten as far as learning how to open the point of sale screen, she left the two dollars from the previous customer on the register and marched over to greet group.

“Hello everyone.”

They didn’t greet her back, and instead huddled together looking at the menu.

 _Wow. I already hate them_ , Annie thought with a glower in their direction.

A boy with brown hair muttered something to his friend under his breath and they shot a glance at Mikasa and laughed quietly before looking away.

Annie bristled. What the fuck did they think they were doing? The plan was only for her to be a dick to Mikasa, not anyone else. If they knew what was good for them, they’d do nothing but order their coffee and leave.. But Annie knew they weren’t that smart.

When two full minutes had passed by without the boys ordering, Annie spoke up from behind Mikasa. “Are you going to order today, or what?”

As usual when Annie took an aggressive tone with customers, they looked surprised that she’d spoken to them in such a manner. It didn’t bother her at all. They were being ridiculously indecisive and loitering was high on Annie’s list of things that pissed her off.

“Yeah, we just don’t know prices.”

Annie glared at the boy who’d spoken. All their menu items listed the price without tax; they had to have at least an inkling of what their total would be based off the amount of time they’d spent staring at the menu.

Or maybe not, if they were actually as stupid as they looked.

“I may be able to assist,” Mikasa started, and Annie groaned internally as she recalled Mikasa’s previous polite but overly rigid interaction with the earlier customer.

It was worse than Annie had expected as Mikasa began to methodically list each beverage they offered by size followed by the exact price, all without looking at the menu.

Which in itself was weird. (Had she studied the menu religiously or something? Who prepped that much for a part time barista gig?)

 _Well, if anyone, it would have to be Mikasa_ , Annie supposed.

She spoke with no inflection, appearing almost machine-like as she fired off the sizes and prices of their chai lattes.

One of the boys interjected. “What are you, a robot?”

His friends laughed and lingered behind him.

Mikasa stopped with her hands at her sides, unsure of what to do. She had a dangerous look in her eye but seemed to hold herself back. Since it was her first day, Annie had a hunch that she’d take whatever comments were dished her way without refute, probably due to some stupid ideology about the customer coming first. Which was a load of bullshit to Annie, and luckily, her boss too.

Annie was about to teach her that if the customer was being a bitch, then she had every right to give it back to them. At least at this coffee shop.

One of the guys spoke loud enough to hear to his friend, shooting snickering glances at Mikasa.

“Yeah, she’s a fuckin robot. She’s not even saying anything to us. Is she even real? Did we break her programming?”

“Man, you gotta watch out for girls like her. So uptight, no fun.”

Annie sighed loudly, coming up to the counter to look them each dead in the eye. 

Mikasa watched her carefully.

“How about you idiots order your drinks? I’m really goddamn sick of hearing your voices.”

Annie thought their eyes were going to fall right out of their heads; they probably hadn’t expected her to swear at them, but they’d have even more coming to them if they didn’t get out soon.

After sputtering a few moments, the brown haired boy seemed to have enough courage to come forward, although shakily. Annie’s glare was of the lethal variety. “Y-You think you can talk to us that way? We’re customers.”

Annie didn’t miss a beat. The sooner she could lay down a swift verbal defeat, the faster they’d leave the shop and lessen her building headache and shut their mouths about Mikasa. “Do you think I care? You’re in my shop. On my boss’s property. My boss. Who has known me for 5 years, is going to take my word that you’re assholes and not give two shits if I decide to kick you out. So either order, NOW, or get out of my sight.”

The boys were frozen in place, seemingly still shocked at Annie’s words until they got their bearings back.

“Ha, fuck this place,” the brown hair boy said with false bravado.

They began shuffling towards the door, sending pathetic versions of dirty looks towards the pair. They were about as threatening as a small puppy with a sweater on. Annie was not impressed.

“Yeah man. This place sucks, those girls are bitches.”

“Bye! Have a shitty day! Don’t ever come again!” Annie called out to them as they left. She was glad to see them leave. She had no time or tolerance for anyone that was going to be a douchebag. Especially if they were going to be a dick to Mikasa, because Annie was already being enough of a pain. Mikasa didn’t need the extra stress.

Mikasa breathed a sigh a few moments after the group left. “I..don’t like talking to customers.”

Annie almost laughed. “Welcome to my world.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> annie is basically a useless lesbian in this chapter
> 
> anyway I am SO sorry this took so long to update...I don't plan on ever taking this long between updates again. Thank you all so much for commenting on this story, I don't always reply but when I read them know that they warm my heart and inspire me not only to write more but take on life more positively. It means the world to me that you're reading my stuff. 
> 
> I will work harder :) look forward to more soon!


	9. Chapter 9

"I...don’t like talking to customers.” With a sigh, Mikasa turned to Annie. **  
**

The blonde remained stoic, though Mikasa picked up on a hint of amusement in her voice. “Welcome to my world.”

“Are you really allowed to talk to them like that?” Mikasa asked, wandering over to the coffee grinders to dust away errant grounds. It had been quite the show, one that Mikasa certainly hadn’t expected. Annie had dished out snappy insults to the annoying teens, designed to be brash and straightforward and delivered with an air of complacency that shocked them enough to make them leave. Mikasa would be lying if she said she wasn’t instantly happier the moment they left. Already having doubts about her lack of experience in the customer service area, their rudeness had done nothing to help whatsoever. Annie’s admonishment of them gave Mikasa a chance for some breathing room, content to let her take center stage. Still, she was surprised that Annie had no qualms about treating customers that way, rude as they were.

“Yeah, if you want. No one does except me and Levi, really. But I only do it if they deserve it. And those idiots did.”

Annie stared at the clock longingly, pulling her her sleeves down to cover her hands. Mikasa wondered if she should make a joking comment about wasting Annie’s time, but thought better of it when she remembered that her goal was to be as agreeable as possible today. She would get the clean slate she wanted with the other girl if it was the last thing she did. Though she had almost lost her resolve earlier with the cash register ordeal (and damn it, she still didn’t know how to ring anything up on it), Mikasa had thought she’d done a very good job with being not only a model newbie employee but a likeable person as well. Aiming to keep that streak, she settled for a more amicable comment.

“They really didn’t like me. Then again, my customer service skills need some work,.” Mikasa said, hoping Annie would take the bait and continue talking with her.

This was part of her plan too. It was one of her long-term goals to get Annie to have a normal length conversation with her. It wasn’t something Mikasa was used to; she herself was typically very quiet, only speaking when addressed. She’d rather observe than take part in a conversation, but since Annie seemed to be very much the same way, Mikasa had deduced that absolutely nothing would get accomplished between them if no one took the first step. So she was trying her best to step out of her comfort zone, hoping that Annie would recognize it and return the favor. She didn’t expect it to happen instantly, of course. But it was always good to test the waters.

The incredibly dark, confusing, hard to navigate waters.

Annie sighed, fastening her hair tie as she looked at the register. “I can’t help you with that.”

She didn’t offer anything after that, instead digging her phone out of her pocket to once again check the time.

And Mikasa supposed Annie did have a point. She was hardly the person to come to for help with customer service. But it wasn’t like she’d been asking to get a serious answer anyway. At this stage in the shaky foundation of what Mikasa hoped to one day call a strong friendship, any dialogue she had with the blonde was considered a win for Mikasa.

Annie didn’t continue after her short response, which Mikasa had half expected. But she didn’t have time to dwell as the door chimed again, causing her stomach to sink.

_Another customer?_

She realized she should probably not harbour dread towards a customer walking in if she was going to be a barista, but she figured the more she worked the easier it would get to approach people.

“Oh, wow.”

Mikasa’s internal warning alarms went off as the customer made his way to the counter and openly stared at her. He looked to be about her age, sporting a shaggy undercut of sandy hair. His chiseled cheekbones were dusted with a blush as his mouth hung slightly open, gaping at her.

Gritting her teeth, Mikasa reluctantly stepped forward. “Can I help you, sir?”

“I...uh, I…” was all he could manage, his hazel eyes wide as he appeared in a daze.

Not appreciating being ogled, Mikasa took a deep breath and decided she’d give him ten more seconds to snap out of it before she tried her hand at customer service, Annie style.

However, the countdown in her head had only made it to seven when Annie decided to look up, curious at the lack of dialogue. Her expression was instantly one of disgust as she rolled her eyes. “Jean, you idiot.”

Mikasa didn’t flinch as a small paper cup that Annie had launched missed her face by inches and hit Jean square in the forehead. It took him a moment to react as he registered the hit late and blinked, scowling. “Hello to you too, Annie.”

Mikasa frowned. Where they friends? Or worse, was he Annie’s boyfriend? The thought made Mikasa’s stomach turn with unease before she quickly picked apart the situation. There was no way in hell Annie would date a guy like him who completely lost his mind like a fool at the sight of Mikasa. It showed a lack of tact and made him look vulnerable and pathetic, traits that Annie would have sniffed out immediately. No, there was no way he could be her boyfriend. But if not, who was he?

Annie stared at Jean with an impressive look of contempt as he made his way behind the counter. “Are you guys excited for my party on Saturday? New girl, you’ll be attending, I hope?”

Ah. He was the employee that was leaving for a full time job.

Mikasa stood still as a statue as Jean made his way up to her and bowed. “I’m Jean Kirchstein, and it is my absolute pleasure to meet you.”

“This is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen,” Annie muttered drolly, crossing her arms.

“I’m Mikasa,” Mikasa said.

“Well, I’m so happy you could join the team here. I just wish I had the chance to train you. I’m the best barista here, and my skills have impressed everyone who has ever walked through the front door,” Jean bragged, flashing her a haughty smile.

“I was told that Annie makes the best drinks here,” Mikasa deadpanned, causing Jean to be physically taken aback in horror.

“Who would say that?! I’m the one who gets an average of 1,000 likes on each post I make on my coffee Instagram account. Annie couldn’t dream of those numbers!”

“And I would never dream of them. Because I don’t care about them. At all.” Annie chimed in, still rooted by the cash register and watching Jean closely.

“Right. You don’t care about anything. How could I forget your defining personality trait? It’s a wonder Mikasa here hasn’t died of boredom training with you.”

With a chuckle, Jean turned back to Mikasa, giving her a knowing half-smile. “Annie’s a drag. I’ll give you my number in case you get bored.”

Mikasa could see Annie’s eyes narrows just slightly, but the blonde said nothing.

_Don’t worry, Annie. I’m not going to let him talk about you like that._

Mikasa shook her head. “Annie’s not boring. I’m learning a lot from her.”

Jean raised his eyebrows in surprise, looking like he was going to retort but closed his mouth, his eyes softening. “Of course. An angel like you must be such a tolerant and open-minded person.”

“But…” he started, making his way over to the espresso machine, “if what you say is true, surely you wouldn’t mind me giving you a test to see how well Annie’s been training you.”

“You’re not testing anyone, you’re not on the clock,” Annie said, but Jean laughed in response.

“Someone’s nervous! I outrank you in years, so if I want to see how well the new recruit is doing, then I have every right to do that.”

“Superior my ass,” Annie muttered and looked at Mikasa, shaking her head in apology.

Mikasa was a tad bit worried. It was true that Annie hadn’t really shown her how to do much, instead seeming to make an effort to either avoid her or scowl at her as she practiced the few things she was taught to do. Hopefully, Jean decided to test her on one of the three skills Annie had showed her how to do today: pull an espresso shot, steam milk, or measure and grind coffee to brew. If it was anything else, Mikasa would inevitably fail and make Annie look bad. Which was entirely Annie’s fault for not training her properly, but it wasn’t a position Mikasa wanted to be in today.

“Pull an espresso shot, please,” Jean gestured to the machine with a smug look on his face, and Mikasa had to fight not to sigh with relief. With the amount of practice she’d had with the maneuver today, she could pull espresso shots in her sleep. She stepped up to the machine and picked up a portafilter, all while Jean stood entirely too close to her.

“I’m sorry to make you do this. I just need to make sure Annie’s doing a good job,” Jean whispered, and Mikasa turned away from him.

“You don’t have to be sorry. I’ll let my skills speak for both Annie and I.”

Mikasa positioned the portafilter underneath the espresso grinder and turned the dial, the hum of the machine resulting in finely ground, rich espresso deposited into the basket. She picked up the nearby tamper and tapped the side of the basket to even out the grounds before pressing down on it with just enough pressure, evening out the espresso into a smooth surface.

Positioning the portafilter under a group head and making sure it was secure, Mikasa quickly grabbed a white demitasse from the stack above the machine and placed it under the portafilter. She pressed the brew button and stepped back as smooth, velvety streams of caramel colored espresso fell into the cup like a babbling brook. Coming to its end at a perfect brew time of 20 seconds, Mikasa carefully retrieved the demitasse and placed it onto a saucer plate, the inevitable aroma of robust, warm espresso enveloping her nostrils. Pleased at the appearance of a generous golden layer of crema on top, she presented it to Jean, who looked into the cup with wide eyes.

“Mikasa, this is beautiful,” he said sagely, and instead of tasting it right away, he placed the saucer on the counter and brandished his phone to snap a quick picture of it.

Mikasa stole a look at Annie out of the corner of her eye, and held back the familiar tickle of a laugh in the back of her throat when she saw the look of utter disgust Annie was giving Jean.

“Don’t worry, I won’t share this online. I just wanted to capture it’s beauty,” Jean said whimsically before finally taking a sip. “Ah...it’s perfect.”

“See, I taught her well, now leave,” Annie said aggressively.

“So soon? That would be rude to Mikasa!” Jean admonished, locking eyes with Mikasa and visibly melting upon meeting her gaze. The brief eye contact caused him to abruptly look away and clear his throat.

Mikasa would find it amusing if it weren’t so pathetic.

“It won’t bother me if you leave,” Mikasa told him. “I can get back to training then, too.”

Jean looked crestfallen for a moment before he appeared to snap himself out of it. “Of course. I shouldn’t keep you from training. But save me a dance at my party on Saturday, okay?”

Mikasa had a firm “no” ready to go on her tongue, but stopped when she saw the hopeful look on his face, reconciling that he wasn’t being sleazy, just trying to politely flirt. Plus, she shouldn’t try to make enemies with coworkers on her first day. But in her moment of hesitance, Annie spoke up.

“Go away,” she said as Jean walked over near her on his way out.

“Annie, if you want me to yourself, you just have to say so,” Jean teased as Annie’s eyebrows furrowed in anger. He quickly shimmied around the counter and beelined toward the door, giving a final wave to the pair. He knew better than to stick around when Annie had the look of death in her eyes. “I’ll see you guys later. And keep up the good work, Mikasa!”

Mikasa waved back, though she didn’t return the dopey grin he’d worn before he’d left the shop. As soon as the door closed behind him, Mikasa watched Annie’s features relax as she sighed, scratching the back of her head before speaking.

“So that’s Jean. I hate him,” Annie grumbled, hopping up to take a seat on the counter.

Mikasa leaned against the counter opposite Annie, taking in the blonde’s slouched position as she leaned her head on the bakery case, idly tapping her foot on the cabinet below.

She surveyed Annie’s small form drowned beneath the weight of her hoodie, and idly wondered why Annie chose to wear the heavy sweatshirt in the relatively warm coffee shop. Plus, it was warmer back behind the counter. It didn’t seem to bother Annie at all, though. Meanwhile, Mikasa was feeling overheated in her long-sleeve black polo, half-waisted apron and khaki colored jeans. She’d have to opt for a short sleeve variety next time she trained with Krista on Thursday.

Realizing she hadn’t answered Annie yet, Mikasa looked up to find the blonde watching her with impatience. “He’s nice enough.”

“Nice enough?” Annie scoffed. “He’s an asshole. He was drooling over you.”

Had Annie been bothered by the attention Jean was giving her? There was no way she would be jealous. So what made it worth mentioning?

Despite wanting to coax more of a reaction out of Annie, Mikasa decided not to push it, shrugging lightly. “I don’t mind.”

Annie frowned and scrunched her nose ever so slightly, a flash of annoyance crossing her features before being quickly replaced by a mask of apathy. “Suit yourself.”

The short exchange between the two seemed to have taken its toll on Annie, if Mikasa could judge by the heavy and weary sigh the blonde gave as she slid off the counter and walked over to the fridge. Mikasa watched as she plucked her training schedule from its stainless steel side, held in place by a thin magnet with a phone number for Chinese take-out. The fragile magnet clattered to the ground and Annie kicked it under the fridge as she scanned the piece of paper.

“It’s almost 4:00, so you can head out if you want. You’re only scheduled till then anyway. The schedule says your next training day is on Thursday with Krista.”

Mikasa glanced up at the clock overhead and saw that it was indeed ten to four. “You don’t have anything left to train me on?”

Annie snorted. “I have a lot of things left to train you on. But I’ll let Krista do it.”

Wordlessly, Mikasa undid her apron from behind and stretched her arms above her head, feeling her shirt ride up just a slight bit. She felt her heart pound in her chest as she saw Annie quickly avert her eyes, a slight red blush dusting her cheeks as she coughed.

“Well I guess I’ll see you Friday then, right?” Mikasa said, walking past Annie to hang her apron up behind the door to the back room. Turning back to the other girl, she saw that the blush had yet to subside, and Mikasa was surprised to feel her own face heating up in response.

Over the years she’d noticed she made lots of boys blush, but seeing the look on Annie made her pulse quicken in a way they never did.

“I guess, yeah,” Annie muttered, kicking at a coffee bean on the ground. “Also, you did a good job today, so...yeah.”

Mikasa had to fight not to smile; it’s all she wanted to hear all day. It was a positive sign in favor of Annie not completing hating her.

Seeing as Annie still wasn’t looking at her, Mikasa decided to spare her of any more intensive dialogue (because it must have taken a lot for her to compliment her after actively working against her all day), so Mikasa settled with a simple “See you around,” as she left the shop, an unexpected bounce in her step as she headed towards Eren and Armin’s dorm.

* * *

“Mikasa, you’re early!” Eren shrieked as she walked in the dorm room he shared with Armin. She blinked as he flung a blanket at her face and tried to kick his empty suitcase under his bed.

He was supposed to have been packing for Germany; after all, he’d be leaving with Armin tomorrow. But Eren being Eren, he’d opted to put it off until the last minute. She shrugged the blanket off and fixed him with a level stare. “You haven’t packed yet.”

Eren scowled, moving to sit on the edge of his bed. “Of course I have.”

“Then why is your suitcase empty? I saw you kick it under your bed. And I see the empty chip bags and the pause screen on the TV. You’ve been gaming.”

“Hey, I--”

Before Eren could try to defend himself, the door behind Mikasa clicked and Armin quietly stepped in. His eyes flitted from the indignant look on Eren’s face, to the empty suitcase sticking out from under the bed, and finally to Mikasa’s unamused expression.

“Better get started, Eren,” he said, taking off his coat and placing it on top of his two fully packed pieces of luggage.

“If you two are that worried about it, why don’t you just do it for me?” Eren snipped, shutting off the game console and dragging the suitcase from under the bed. He tossed it onto the mattress and began picking up articles of clothing scattered about the room and threw them (or attempted to) into the open case.

With a sigh, Mikasa moved to sit on his bed and began neatly folding the clothes that were flying her way. “What are you going to do without me?”

“The question is, what will you do without _us_?” Eren shot back, pitching a sock at Armin.

“I’m guessing she’ll enjoy her peace and quiet,” Armin said, picking up the sock gingerly and placing it in the nearby hamper. “Though I will admit I’m happy you’ve found work, Mikasa. It will help fill time over winter break.”

Only when Armin said it did it really begin to sink in that they’d be gone for four months, mid-September through the beginning of January. Her only friends in the entire world, and the only people she conversed with on campus. Thinking of her single dorm room, she wondered just how long she’d enjoy a break from the duo’s antics before she began to miss them.

“How was work today, anyway? Did you have to train with that scary blonde girl?” Eren said, though Mikasa could barely hear him. His hand was shoved in a drawer, rattling the contents around until he found what he was looking for: an ancient fifth generation handheld game console.

“Don’t bring video games to Germany. There’ll be so much to do,” Mikasa tried to reason, but Eren promptly ignored her and stuffed it into the suitcase anyway.

“Suit yourself. Anyway, work was okay. I did train with the scary blonde girl but she is not scary. I like her a lot, actually. I just can’t seem to figure her out. It’ll take time, as long as she lets me,” Mikasa began, surveying her nails.

“I tried to do everything right today but she seemed...not to like that. I got kind of annoyed but I held my temper. It’s not worth it to blow up on her over something so dumb when we just started to get to know each other. Especially after our text conversation.”

As Mikasa spoke, she didn’t realize that Eren and Armin had stopped moving and were exchanging highly amused glances.

“Oh, I also met the guy who’s leaving today, Jean. He hit on me; Annie didn’t seem to like that. Though I wonder if it’s just because she dislikes him, or something else. Regardless, I hope to get a better read on her as I work more. She’s interesting. I kind of like being around her even though she seems off-putting. And she wears a hoodie while she’s working, even though it’s so warm. Isn’t that weird? But it suits her…”

Trailing off, Mikasa idly gazed out the small window in the room, wondering what Annie and her messy blonde bun and too-big hoodie would be doing after work. She’d be getting off soon. It had been chilly when she’d left the shop; if Annie was going to work out tonight Mikasa hoped she’d remember to dry her hair before going outside. Lost in her thoughts, it took her a few long moments to realize that Eren and Armin weren’t responding. Frowning, she looked up to find the pair staring at her in bewilderment.

“I’ve known you basically my entire life and I’ve never heard you speak so many words at once,” Eren said. “And about a _girl_ , at that.”

_So what?_

Mikasa’s eyes narrowed as she felt her pulse begin to quicken. What was he getting at?

Armin instantly picked up on Mikasa’s anger flaring and tried to quell the impending storm. “I wouldn’t word it like that; I actually think it’s nice that you’re so heavily invested in your coworker.”

“Heavily invested?” Mikasa snapped. “Who said I was heavily invested??”

“You did,” Eren said, and Armin winced at this friend’s inability to stop talking when he needed to. “First of all you mentioned something about a text conversation, then you said she’s interesting and you like being around her and that you hope you can figure her out AND you paid attention to the fact that she wears a hoodie. Plus you were just staring out the window like a girl in some romance novel.”

Mikasa’s blood ran cold as she realized she couldn’t argue with anything he’d just said.

Eren smirked triumphantly. “Armin, I can’t believe we’re going to miss Mikasa navigating the waters of her first crush.”

Mikasa stood up in indignation, fists clenched.

This was ridiculous. Crush?! No. Absolutely _not_. She did not get crushes on people. She’d never had a crush on anyone, so she would definitely know once she finally did, right? Her so called “investment” in Annie made logical sense, nothing more. Annie was a puzzle, and Mikasa liked solving them, and she liked to be on good terms with everyone, and she cared what people thought about her, so of course she’d naturally take an interest in someone that hates her and….

_But wait. I don’t care if I’m on good terms with people. And I definitely don’t care what people think about me. So why am I all of sudden thinking that? It’s like I’m trying to justify something...trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for taking such an interest in Annie._

_And if my interest in her isn’t anything more than platonic, why am I trying so hard to convince myself of that fact?_

Mikasa swallowed thickly as she felt  herself getting closer to her answer. _Maybe because…. I’m more into this, more into her than I’m letting myself recognize. Am I repressing my feelings to such an extent? Fooling myself into thinking I’m acting out of a need for something platonic? If so...then there is only one conclusion._

“Mikasa’s in love with Annie, holy shit!” Eren laughed, and Mikasa picked up his suitcase contents and dumped it on the ground in retaliation.  

Even _if_ she was, she wasn’t about to discuss it with Eren and Armin right now. No, she had to go somewhere alone and get to the bottom of this.

“Not so funny now, is it? And I’m not helping you repack,” Mikasa said, taking her purse and keys from the nightstand. “Armin, I’m still free for breakfast tomorrow before you guys leave. Just text me when you get there, okay?”

Armin nodded in response, his expression apologetic.

“Mikasa I’m sorry!” Eren tried to apologize after realizing clothes fit in the suitcase much better when Mikasa folded them.

Mikasa watched as he frantically balled up t shirts and tried to shove them into every nook and cranny available in the luggage. With a sigh, she waved to the two of them. “Too bad. See you guys tomorrow morning.”

_It’s really not your fault, Eren. You didn’t do anything except force me to confront my own feelings._

Now she just needed some time to sort them out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mikasa hon...you love annie ok 
> 
> i hope this didn't feel too rushed; i feel that someone as self-aware as Mikasa wouldn't be able to deceive themselves of their true feelings for too long. She just needed that extra push from Eren to realize just how obsessed with Leonhart she is
> 
> sorry for the long wait again !! blame school and capitalism


	10. Chapter 10

_“Mikasa, we’re just happy you have someone to hang out with while we’re gone.”_

Mikasa shook her head slowly, deep in thought as she drank her second cup of coffee of the morning. It had been Armin’s way of trying to smooth things over this morning when the trio had met before departing, and Mikasa had opted to stay behind at the cafe and ponder some more.

Now that Eren and Armin were on their way out of the country, Mikasa was truly alone with her thoughts, and she found herself slowly warming up to the idea of her crush on Annie.

Afterall, Annie was very cute.

Since Mikasa was being honest with herself now, she let herself bask unabashedly at Annie’s cuteness as she daydreamed. She thought about the way strands of hair fell out of Annie’s bun as the day went on, how Annie had intently watched her as Jean had flirted with her. How’s Annie’s voice was so alluring without even trying, her nonchalant attitude appealing to Mikasa because she knew that a flippant demeanor usually gave way to a complex layer beneath. How Annie had to be at least five whole inches shorter than her, and how it would feel to lean down and rest her head on the blonde’s shoulders as she circled her arms around her waist….

Mikasa froze with her cup in her hands, her eyes slightly wide at her sudden turn of thoughts.

How was she in this deep when she’d just realized her feelings yesterday?

But Mikasa was nothing if not passionate, and she had finally reached the conclusion that the only way to deal with this crush was to see if Annie felt the same way about her, and in the process, get to know Annie better.

Which had been her original plan anyway, just under the guise of being platonic.

Mikasa blinked as she took a bite of the croissant she had barely touched, thinking about how blissfully deep in denial she had been. In retrospect, though she had been annoyed at the time, she was thankful that Eren had pointed out what was becoming increasingly obvious about her feelings toward Annie. She wondered how long she would have kept marching along as she had been, trying her very best to be mere friends with Annie rather than something more. It probably would have taken her awhile to realize, knowing how stubborn she was when she convinced herself of an idea. Yes, the more she looked at it, the more she realized she owed Eren a huge thank you, for saving her from herself.

The biggest problem now was acknowledging that there was a high possibility her feelings would not be returned by Annie. In fact, the more she examined the situation and thought about possible outcomes, the more she resolved to steel herself for almost imminent rejection.

As it was, her and Annie had no relationship outside of a few casual run-ins and their new status as indifferent co-workers. If she wanted Annie to notice her, notice her as a potential girlfriend and not as some nuisance, she’d have to make an effort to pique her interest and hang out with her outside of work.

She had a feeling that it would not be an easy task, but Mikasa was more than ready for the challenge. To match her passion she also harboured an innate amount of perseverance, and she felt determined to win Annie’s heart, or at the very least, ask her out for a cup of coffee.

The rush of empowerment Mikasa had felt just moments before dissipated as she realized a huge problem in her plan: She’d eventually have to ask Annie out.

She would have to ask a girl out, for the first time. Ever.

Sure, she could confront assholes on campus or challenge anyone who threatened her position as top of the class, but the thought of asking a girl out on a date was making her stomach queasy.

While she wasn’t usually a person who balked at the unknown, this seemed different. She’d have to put herself on the line, vulnerable and at Annie’s mercy. She could not control the outcome, could not predict it, and the thought of leaving so much up to chance was making her heart pound in fear.

She took a sip of her now-cold coffee, willing the bitter taste to calm her nerves. Asking Annie out was not something she should be worrying about now. It wouldn’t happen for a long time, considering that Mikasa had not even made any remotely flirtatious moves yet. She had to take this one step at a time and not let fear of the future weigh down on her present.

She would think this crush through like she always approached difficult matters. She’d prioritize, map out a game plan, and deal with situations as they arose.

Besides, she did not want to ruin the good momentum she hoped to start with plagued by thoughts of potential unrequited love. It would only serve to hinder her, and Mikasa had no room for self-induced toxicity in her life.

Standing up, Mikasa carefully brushed the crumbs off her table and onto her plate before carrying the dishes over to the waste area. An employee changing the recycling bag stopped what he was doing as he smiled at her.

“Hey, thanks for bringing the dishes over. Especially since it’s getting busy, it really helps us out.”

Mikasa nodded, a bit surprised at the comment. Was it not something that most people did? She had thought it was a given that people would clean up after themselves in a laid-back cafe such as the one she was in.

The employee chuckled. “Yeah, common courtesy is few and far between these days. It’s nice to see someone with manners, but, uh, I couldn’t help notice how pretty you are, and I, uh...”

He grew shy as he averted his eyes, and Mikasa stood silent waiting for the inevitable. She was long used to men hitting on her, though it still puzzled her why. She took care in her physical appearance, but she didn’t think she was attractive enough to warrant the frequent amount of dates she got asked on. A part of her always wondered why men tried to ask her on dates based on physical attraction alone. For all they knew, she could be a terrible person. But the thought never seemed to occur to them as they approached her nonetheless. She had learned to take the proposals at face value and replying to them with her standard “no” had become automatic for her, and today was no exception. She put herself on autopilot while the employee finished stumbling out a suggestion of somewhere to go to eat.

“I appreciate the offer, but no thank you. Have a nice day,” Mikasa said politely, and the employee, while clearly disappointed, managed a smile as he waved her off.

Sometimes she felt bad about declining the nicer men, but it was only because she appreciated their courtesy and poise in accepting her rejection. Mikasa just never found herself catching feelings for anyone, but today, that had all changed. 

As Mikasa walked down the street towards the library, she looked straight ahead despite turning the heads of those around her.

She only had eyes for one person. And that was Annie Leonhart.

* * *

Annie lay on the floor of her apartment living room, one hand tucked behind her head and the other in a bag of chips as Ymir sat on the couch, furiously swearing at a video game.

“God dammit!!! This is bullshit. I’m quitting. And lay off the damn chips, Annie. You work so hard at the gym and cancel it out by eating that shit,” Ymir said, swiping the bag from Annie and popping a few chips into her own mouth.

“Don’t care. I forgot to go grocery shopping so that’s all I have,” Annie sighed, turning her head to see the game screen on the TV engulfed in flames with the words “Game Over” scrawled across the middle.

_Game over._

Much like her pitiful resolve when it came to Mikasa.

Non-existent.

Completely out the damn window.

She closed her eyes, thinking of the exact moment she’d completely cracked and ruined the progress she’d made towards getting Mikasa to hate her.

_“Also, you did a good job today, so...yeah.”_

Annie fought not to cringe at her own words. Telling someone they did a good job did nothing in getting them to hate you. So why had she even said it at all? That was the question that had been on her mind ever since yesterday, and she had yet to come up with an answer.

“Seriously? Well, I’m the same way. If I didn’t live with Krista I’d be eating shit all the time,” Ymir mumbled through a mouthful of chips.

Annie didn’t reply, instead rolling over to face Ymir.

Ymir raised an eyebrow. “What are you staring at me for?”

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” Annie said simply, sighing. She didn’t want to give Ymir any more information other than that. Holding her hand out, she wordlessly gestured for the chips.

After taking one last handful, Ymir tossed the bag to her. “What are you talking about?”

Annie closed her eyes.

_I’m talking about the murderous rage I felt when Jean was hitting on Mikasa._

_I’m talking about the heart attack I got when Mikasa stretched and I caught a glimpse of her perfect stomach._

_I’m talking about having feelings for a random idiot that are completely unwelcome and unwarranted._

Sitting up, Annie tossed her head back to get her bangs out of her face before popping a few chips into her mouth. “Nothing.”

Ymir scoffed, not buying it one bit. “Clearly it’s about a girl.”

Annie stopped mid-chew to give Ymir the sharpest glare she could muster. “Fuck off.”

Ymir laughed, unpausing her game. “You know it’s okay to have a crush on someone. You do know that, right? Please tell me you know that.”

But it wasn’t okay. Because having a crush on someone was uncharted territory, and the unknown was definitely not okay in Annie’s book. Even worse was the fact that she clearly couldn’t suppress these feelings. She had vowed to hate Mikasa, and to get the other girl to feel that same hatred towards herself as well. It seemed easy enough to execute, in theory. In reality, it had been a complete disaster with Annie becoming soft in all of one whole training shift. It was ridiculous and not okay in the slightest.

“Ugh. Let’s play multiplayer,” Annie changed the subject, reaching under her sofa to grab the other game controller.

Ymir looked unconvinced but obliged, going to the main screen to change the game mode. “Let’s play one on one. I don’t feel like getting lambasted by CPUs when you’re already an emotional mess.”

“I’m not an emotional mess,” Annie grumbled, waiting for their game to load while Ymir tapped away on her phone.

“I’m an Aquarius-Pisces cusp. You can’t fool me,” Ymir said.

Annie raised an eyebrow, grabbing a blanket before sitting a few feet away from Ymir on the sofa. “Astrology is fake.”

“Is that so? Let’s see here: Aries love horoscope for today: ‘ _You can probably sense the change unfolding within your heart. Coming to terms with this could require you to take some time to assess your heart's most fervent feelings. This is a time to reassess your views on love and relationships, but don't draw instant conclusions. There are more benefits than disbenefits to allowing someone into your heart_ ’,” Ymir read off, giving a knowing look to Annie. “Astrology never lies.”

Annie stared at Ymir, undeniably surprised (and somewhat perturbed) by the reading’s accuracy. “Lucky guess.”

“AH-HA! SO IT IS A GIRL!” Ymir yelled, triumphant.

“Be quiet! Or the neighbor will complain!” Annie admonished. “And I never said that. Calm down.”

“Fine. Keep acting all mysterious if it makes you feel better. But just know that I know,” Ymir said, finishing one last text before picking up her controller. “Now...are you ready to get your ass kicked?”

Annie rolled her eyes but couldn’t deny the fuzzy, enveloping warmth that settled over her as she traded virtual kicks and punches with Ymir. Even though she was a loner at heart, having a friend like Ymir that didn’t press things but still managed to make her feel somewhat better made her feel really lucky. Sometimes Annie didn’t want to talk things out. It was enough to just have Ymir _here_ , her over-the-top yet totally laid-back presence comforting in itself. Of course, she would never tell Ymir that. But she had a feeling that the other girl, in all her Aquarius-Pisces cusp glory, probably knew.

After a good forty minutes of Annie continually winning, Ymir sighed heavily.

“Annie, stop. Stop being good at this game, it’s annoying,” Ymir complained as Annie KO’d her yet again.

“Hey, like you said, I’m an emotional mess. I’ve got to use something as an outlet. Beating you up virtually fits the bill quite nicely,” Annie teased, throwing an explosive at Ymir as soon as she respawned.

“Remind me to never play Sudden Death on Super Smash Bros with you ever again,” Ymir said as she ran away from Annie’s player. “But hey, if you KO me again you have to tell me who’s on your mind.”

“What?!” Annie almost yelled as she stopped just short of smashing Ymir with the Homerun Bat.

Taking her chance, Ymir hopped over the the landmines Annie had laid and knocked her off screen with a nicely timed drop kick.

“That’s definitely cheating,” Annie pointed out. “Brilliant, but still cheating.”

Ymir shrugged, smirking. “What can I say? I’m a cunning mastermind.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Annie said, and nearly jumped when her doorbell rang. “Who the hell is that?”

She moved to get up but Ymir beat her to it. “Stay put, I’ll get it!”

Slightly confused but grateful that she didn’t have to get up from her warm couch, Annie sat up and watched curiously as Ymir pressed the buzzer and let the mysterious person in.

“Hey, bitches!”

“Krista?” Annie said, surprised to see the blonde at her doorstep.

“Krista, and...food!” Krista exclaimed, holding up a few bags of groceries.

Annie’s heart swelled as Ymir helped Krista bring the groceries into the kitchen. “You guys…”

“I texted Krista to get some food after I saw that your dumbass has one bag of chips, half a loaf of shitty bread and a bottle of ketchup to your name,” Ymir said, pulling out some frozen meals.

Krista shot Annie a bright smile before unloading a few boxes of pre-cut fresh vegetables. “I made sure everything was relatively healthy and didn’t take time to prep since I know how lazy you can be.”

Annie scratched the back of her head, hovering near the table as Ymir and Krista got to work stocking her fridge. She wasn’t one to show her emotions in the moment, but she was finding it hard to fight back tears at the unbelievable generosity of her friends. “Wow...I....”

“I know, I know, I’m amazing,” Krista joked, closing the fridge. Ymir looped an arm around her girlfriend's shoulders and pulled her close, her other hand in her pocket.

“We have to make sure our girl doesn’t starve. Otherwise Mikasa would be out of a girlfriend,” Ymir said loudly and started laughing at her own joke before Krista elbowed her.

“No, really. This is...thank you,” Annie managed to get out, shaking her head in disbelief.

“No problem. All I ask in return is that you are honest with your feelings,” Krista said sweetly, breaking out of Ymir’s hold to give Annie a quick hug.

Annie squirmed with a frown as Krista hugged her, but gave her a genuine smile when she was free. “I can’t make any promises.”

“Sure you can,” Ymir butted in, holding out her fist to bump with Annie’s. “Whatever, or whoever it is that’s on your mind, think of it like a video game. You don’t hesitate to kick ass in those, so why should your real life be any different? Don’t hesitate. Go for it. Or should I say, go for her?”

“It’s weird when you get all motivational,” Annie commented. “And who said it was a her?”

“Yeah Ymir. Stop jumping to conclusions,” Krista said, jumping back with a laugh as Ymir tried to retaliate.

“When Annie spills to us I am definitely gonna say ‘I told you so’,” Ymir cooed, managing to grab hold of Krista’s waist and planted a kiss on the top of her head.

“Ymir...stop!” Krista said despite leaning closer as Ymir nuzzled her hair with her nose.

“Okay, moment ruined, get OUT,” Annie said, her nose wrinkled in disgust as she herded the pair towards the door.

“Bye Annie, see you tomorrow!” Krista barely got out as Ymir tried to pick her up. 

“Bye. Thanks again for the food,” Annie waved to her even though she couldn’t see it; Ymir had succeeded in picking her up and was laughing all the way to the stairs.

“Ymir, I hate you!” Annie called, smiling softly to herself as the pair disappeared down the stairwell.

“Hate you too, Annie!” Ymir yelled back, and within a few seconds everything became quiet again. Those two were really something else.

Annie let out a breath, closing the door to her apartment and wandered over to her fridge. Krista and Ymir had stocked it with water, smoothies, veggies, fruits and more. Seeing a box of sushi with a note reading “EAT THIS TONIGHT” scribbled on it, Annie obliged and moved back to her couch to enjoy her food.

She had to admit, it was nice eating something real for once instead of instant noodles. She’d have to make an effort to actually grocery shop and cook more. But saying it was one thing, doing it was another.

Besides, she was bound to be under major upcoming emotional stress with the impending business with Mikasa. She still had a lot to sort out, but at this point it was all in the execution. It was very clear to her that she had feelings for Mikasa, whether she wanted to or not. Now it was just a matter of deciding where to go from there.

As she munched on a cucumber roll, Annie begrudgingly thought of Ymir’s words: _Don’t hesitate. Go for it. Or should I say, go for her?_

Again, it was another thing that was easier said than done. Even if she maybe wanted to try and see where this crush took her, the chances that Mikasa would like her back were very slim. Mikasa was gorgeous, smart, good at apparently everything, and super confident.

Annie was average at best, lazy, and complacent. What could Mikasa possibly see in her?

And the relationship was bound to implode anyway. Annie could already foresee Mikasa getting fed up with her moodiness, and her need to spend time alone. Why would anyone want to be in a relationship with someone who didn’t like being around other people? There was no way it could work out.

Annie was startled out of her thoughts as her phone buzzed, and she saw a text message notification from Ymir. Setting down her chopsticks, she opened the message.

 

> **Ymir:** “Don't draw instant conclusions. There are more benefits than disbenefits to allowing someone into your heart.”
> 
>  

“What the hell?” Annie said out loud, wondering when Ymir had gained the ability of long-distance telepathy.

Her phone buzzed again.

 

> **Ymir:** DON’T DISREGARD YOUR HOROSCOPE OR ELSE
> 
>  

Annie laughed softly to herself, turning off her screen without replying. She hated to admit it, but the horoscope was right, and so was Ymir. She could either make things happen or stay forever in limbo.

And if it was between doing nothing and doing something, Annie knew that when it came down to it, she wouldn’t hesitate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the long wait. combination of writer's block and spring semester ending. I have break until june 10th when summer semester starts so hopefully i can get another update in. 
> 
> Side note: What characters do you think Ymir and Annie would play as in Super Smash Bros? :)
> 
> ps i apologize for any grammar or spelling errors it is 12 AM and i am running on fumes


	11. Chapter 11

“Who’s ready to party?!!”

 The sight of Hanji screaming on top of the table inside the shop’s back room made Annie consider walking right back out the door. But Sasha already had a hold of her elbow, guiding her towards the table of gifts that the other staff members had gotten for Jean.

 “I was supposed to get a gift?” Annie hissed under her breath. The thought hadn’t even crossed her mind, mostly because Jean was someone she never ever wanted to get a gift for. But seeing the pile in front of her made her feel obligated, and she began to rummage around in her bag to look for something to add to it.

 “I mean, you didn’t _have_ to. But now that you’ve seen that everyone else has you’ll probably want to cough up a little something,” Sasha said teasingly.

 Annie grimaced, fishing out a ten dollar bill from her wallet and throwing it on the pile of nicely wrapped gifts.

  _There goes my gas money._

 “That’s all he’s getting.”

 Sasha looked at the haphazard offering for a moment before shrugging in acceptance and wandered away towards Hanji.

 An old speaker was tucked in the corner blaring some cliche party music, and Ymir was incessentantly blowing into a party horn as Krista laughed.

 Annie shook her head, the commotion exhausting her by the second.

 Maybe it would be a good idea to get something to drink. She decided to leave the the party for a moment and fix herself a coffee inside the shop. She pulled her hoodie over her head, exiting as nonchalantly as possible so as not to make eye contact with Ymir and Krista, who would definitely wave her over if they saw her.  

 As soon as the door closed quietly behind her, shutting out the noise and the bustle, Annie breathed a sigh of relief. She had only been in the room for a few minutes but already felt overwhelmed, but she knew a lot of her nervousness was because of Mikasa. Today, Annie was going to make a good impression. Or at least, she hoped to.

 As Annie fixed herself an americano, her mind played through all the moments in which she’d been rude and non-responsive to Mikasa, inwardly cringing as she wondered how she’d ever recover from all of it. She had no idea how to start.

Stepping over to the coffee brewer, Annie pressed the button for hot water and filled her cup, her shoulders already relaxing as the warmth soothed her buzzing hands. If she wasn’t so tired, Annie might have just stuck with the water, but espresso was definitely in order if she was going to get through the party alive. She held her cup under the stream of espresso that she’d pulled, watching as the robust liquid topped off the hot water. It finished with a soft click, and Annie cradled her finished americano in her hands, holding it under her nose to inhale the warm, almost sweet scent of the beverage.

Annie thought it’d be perfect if Mikasa came into the shop right now. It would just be the two of them then, and Annie could greet her without an audience and they could walk into the staff room together. But as she tentatively sipped her drink, the door did not open. Annie wasn’t surprised. Things rarely played out like she wished they would in her head.

She lingered a few more moments before resolving herself to her fate, and dragged her feet back to the staff room, americano held tightly in hand.

As soon as she entered, she was greeted with the sound of Ymir yelling. “Get your ass over here!”

Annie took her time, watching a scene unfold as Levi stood warily by Hanji.

“Hanji. Either you get off the table or I take out the hard liquor I have stored under my desk.”

Levi’s already tired eyes seemed eight times groggier as he stared wearily up at her.

“Levi! Join me up here. It’ll be a new point of view for you!” Hanji called, keeping an impressive straight face before dissolving into laughter at her own joke.

Levi sighed, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation before promptly leaving the room again.

Annie seriously debated following him before Krista grabbed hold of her arm, making the decision for her.

“Annie! Come over by us!”

As she was dragged closer to the snack table, Annie surveyed the stacked boxes of pizza spotted with grease and the various bowls of chips and dessert platters scattered across its surface. A couple liters of colorful sodas teetered precariously near the corner farthest from her, and Ymir stood behind the table with a smirk on her face. .

“Try the homemade party mix. I worked my ass off making it, it tastes amazing.”

To prove her point, Ymir shoved a handful into her mouth and crunched noisily.

Annie raised an eyebrow as she peered into the bowl, seeing shapes that looked awfully familiar to Chex Mix.

“You made this?” Annie said skeptically. There was no way. “What’s in it?”

“Oh, I don’t have a recipe. I just feel the ingredients, let them speak to me,” Ymir explained haughtily. “I guess you could say I’m a natural born chef.”

“Looks like Chex Mix to me,” Annie deadpanned.

Ymir shrugged, popping another piece into her mouth. “Believe what you want. I guess it’s hard for some people to except the truth.”

“Uh, if you’re gonna lie, it’’d probably help if you actually disposed of the Chex Mix bags,” Sasha chimed in, picking up the bags that had missed the trash can and throwing them out properly.

Annie looked at Ymir with an eyebrow raised. “Interesting.”

“Why is everybody always trying to ruin my fun?” Ymir complained. Krista rubbed her back soothingly, and Annie wrinkled her nose.

“That’s what you get for trying to take credit for Chex Mix’s hard work,” Sasha managed to say through a mouthful of brownie. She was piling her plate sky-high with a multitude of mini cupcakes, cookies, and cinnamon buns.

Annie watched her in both awe and horror. Annie definitely had a sweet tooth, but just looking at Sasha’s plate made her feel like she was getting a cavity. Or diabetes. Probably both.

Ymir shook her head. “Hard work? Chex Mix is made in a damn factory. It gets pushed through a ton of conveyor belts and molds and shit.”

Sasha nodded in agreement, swallowing the last of her brownie before speaking again. “Yeah, but...someone’s got to operate that machinery. By taking credit for this Chex Mix you’re erasing their effort.”

“I don’t like this party anymore.” Ymir said, rolling her eyes.

“I find it pretty entertaining. Especially the way Annie thought she could leave without us seeing her by putting her hood on,” Krista laughed, causing Annie to glower at her over a sip of her americano.

“That was some James Bond shit. Except you’re terrible at incognito. If I was the Russian spy, you’d be long gone,” Ymir said, stacking four rice krispy treats onto her plate.

Annie thought about commenting on it before she realized she’d probably do the same thing. Rice krispy treats were heaven on earth. “Well, good thing you’re neither Russian or a spy.”

“LADIES!!”

Ymir stopped mid-bite and Annie narrowed her eyes at the disturbance as Jean entered the room, wearing a graduation cap.

“Please hold the applause, the man of the hour has arrived,” he said, bowing.

Sasha frowned. “Are you graduating today too?”

“Yeah! Graduating from working here,” Jean flashed her a smile.

“Oh, I love it!” Hanji gave him a thumbs up. “Welcome to your first last day at The Sunny Bean!”

“Thanks! It’s been quite the ride, and I…”

Jean trailed off, his smile slowly disappearing when he looked around the room, apparently looking for something (or someone) that wasn’t there.

“Where’s Mikasa?” Jean asked, his tone fragile and physique looking as if the air was getting let out of him every passing moment.

Annie would have thought that he looked pathetic, if not for the fact that it was the question on her mind, too. She wished the dumb idiot would just show up already. Her anxiety was building every moment that Mikasa didn’t walk through the door. She had absolutely no game plan for winning Mikasa over, and the longer she didn’t show, the longer Annie had to conjure insane possible situations that had almost no chance of happening.

Like Mikasa walking in and throwing Jean’s cake in her face for being a bitch.

Or Mikasa landing a roundhouse kick to her face for not training her well.

Or Mikasa laughing in her face for trying to approach her, causing Annie to back up and fall onto the dessert table, sending miniature desserts toppling to the ground along with her hopes and dreams.

Annie glanced at the clock, seeing that Mikasa was only maybe about a minute or so late. Regardless, she thought that it would maybe be a good idea to send her a text message; she could use her lateness as an excuse to start a conversation. She pulled out her phone, keying a quick message to Mikasa and hesitating only a second before pressing send.

 

**Annie:** where r u?

 

Meanwhile, Jean was full-on sulking. “There’s no point in even having a party if she’s not here.”

“Really, Jean?? What about your coworkers who have diligently put up with you for years?” Sasha pointed out. “I even bought a pinata for you!”

All heads turned to the pinata swinging lifelessly in middle of the room, haphazardly strung up by Ymir.

After a beat of silence, Hanji hopped down from the table upon seeing that everyone needed cheering up. “Everyone, turn your frown upside down! We don’t have to wait for the rookie. Let’s get started with some games!”

“Yay,” Ymir said without a hint of excitement in her voice.

“Oh come on, it’ll be fun,” Krista nudged Ymir, leading her towards Hanji.

“Levi, bring ‘er in!”

The room was silent a moment as everyone waited on Levi, and in a few moments he kicked the door open, startling everyone. As he walked towards the middle of the room, he dragged a limbo bar with him, looking like he was walking to his death.

“Limbo!!” Sasha yelled, pumping her fist.

“Yes!!” Krista joined in.

“Oh this is so unfair. Annie and Krista easily walk under the bar without having to even crouch. Meanwhile I break my back trying to get under that thing,” Ymir complained.

“That’s why it’s fun. We get to watch you struggle,” Annie said, picking a spot on the wall to lean against while everyone else played.

“Talking trash and you’re not even gonna play? Lame, Leonhart,” Ymir teased, waiting for her turn.

She was _definitely_ not going to play. When Mikasa came in, Annie didn’t want to be stuck mid-bend in limbo. No, she had to look cool. And she thought that leaning on the wall while surreptitiously sipping her coffee made her look pretty bad-ass. Or so she hoped.

Annie watched as the group lined up, with Hanji going first. Sasha cleared the bar, then Krista as she walked under with ease.

All of a sudden, Jean gasped incredibly loudly, causing Ymir to crash right through the bar during her turn.

Annie stifled a laugh at her friend, ready to make fun of her until Jean yelled out.

“MIKASA!”

_Oh fuck._

Annie didn’t even look up at Mikasa, not wanting to look too eager. She casually examined her nails, trying to look bored even though her heart was pounding.

“Hi everyone, sorry I’m late,” Mikasa said, slightly out of breath. Annie heard her set her purse down on a nearby table and made a point to look up lazily as if disturbed by the noise.

Annie noticed how flushed Mikasa’s cheeks were, and the light sheen of sweat on her face. Yet, her stupid hair still looked perfect.

_I really had to go and get a crush on the most unattainable flawless girl ever, didn’t I?_

“You never have to apologize,” Jean assured her, stepping over Ymir who lay on the ground tangled up in the bar. “I’m just happy you could make it.”

“Good to see you, kid!” Hanji smiled, sending Mikasa a thumbs up.

While everyone greeted Mikasa, Annie decided to go over to her helpless friend and extended her hand, hauling Ymir up. “You’re a mess.”

Ymir rubbed her elbow, managing to shoot a roguish smile amidst her wincing. “I am. But at least I’m a hot mess.”

Annie rolled her eyes. “You’re welcome.”

“How come your hands are all sweaty?” Ymir asked, wiping her palms on her jeans.

“I...what? Keep your voice down, jesus,” Annie scrambled, hoping Mikasa hadn’t heard Ymir.

“Okay, fine! Just asking. Do I make you nervous?” Ymir winked.

Annie gave her a glare. “No. But I do hate you.”

“You hate a lot of people, don’t you?”

Of course. Of _course_ Mikasa was right behind her. A part of Annie didn’t want to turn around. A part of her just wanted to walk straight ahead and hide with Levi in his office and never come out. But today was supposed to be her fresh start. She couldn’t mess it up before it had even begun.

Gripping her cup harder than she needed to, Annie turned around, where Mikasa stood a few paces away from her. She stood there, staring at Annie with the slightest teasing smirk on her lips, and Annie had to look away as she felt her cheeks burn for no reason.

_If I could stop uncontrollably blushing whenever Mikasa looks at me, that’d be nice._ Annie cleared her throat, taking a sip of her drink. She discovered that there was nothing left, but she pretended to drink anyway, if only to buy herself some time.

“I pretty much do. Hate people, I mean. I hate people. As you know.”

Annie stood there lamely, wanting to cringe at how dumb she sounded. What was wrong with her? What happened to cool Annie?

She supposed this was the side effect with never flirting with anyone, ever. She really had no idea what she was doing.

Luckily, it seemed that Mikasa didn’t care. She nodded, pulling idly at her scarf. “I do.”

It was clear that neither of them knew what to say, and they stood in awkward silence a few moments as everyone else tried to put the limbo bar back together.

For once in her life, Annie wished for Ymir to intervene and make a joke or something. Annie was at a complete loss.

Annie took another fake sip of her non-existent americano, sighing, and waiting for a hole in the ground to swallow her up.

But Annie was also not a quitter. Lazy, yes. Socially incapable? Most definitely. But a quitter? Nah.

So Annie opened her mouth to speak. But as soon as she did, Mikasa decided to do the same. Because that was just Annie’s luck today.

“There’s stuff to eat on the table behind you--”

“I got your text message but couldn’t reply--”

They both stopped, and Mikasa seemed amused. Meanwhile, Annie wanted to melt into a puddle. How more embarrassing could this get? She had spent all her time worrying about ways in which Mikasa might rebuff her. She had never anticipated how hard it would be just _speaking_ to her like a normal person.

Annie took a breath. Things were much easier when she hated Mikasa. “You go first.”

“Right. Um, I got your text message asking where I was. But I couldn’t reply because I was speed-walking to the shop and didn’t want to stop and text back,” Mikasa explained.

“It’s fine. I don’t care if you don’t reply to me,” Annie said, but almost winced as soon as the words left her mouth.

_Saying you don’t care if she replies to you doesn’t show your interest, dumbass._

“I mean, I understand. You don’t have to feel obligated to text me back,” Annie amended.

Mikasa nodded. “If I wasn’t hurrying, I’d be sure to text you back.”

Well, Annie definitely didn’t know how to reply to that, so she settled for a simple, “Oh.”

Mikasa nodded again, almost as if she was encouraging Annie to keep talking with her.  “What were you going to tell me?”

“That there’s food. Over there,” Annie said, feeling a bit sheepish at the pointing out the obvious. Mikasa probably already noticed it since the room was so small.

But Mikasa didn’t seem to think it was dumb. “Thanks. I’m going to get some things, then.”

And then she walked away, leaving Annie’s heart beating terribly fast over absolutely nothing and leaving her knees weak at the smell of her fragrant floral perfume.

Ymir popped up behind Annie, speaking quietly. “That was like pulling teeth.”

“ _Now_ you choose to make an appearance?” Annie grumbled in annoyance.

“Oh yeah. It was so bad,” Ymir said, laughing between her words.

Annie gave her a death glare. “Don’t listen to my conversations.”

Krista joined them, sidling up next to Ymir. “Well, limbo is effectively over. I guess the bar broke when my girlfriend fell on it.”

Ymir shrugged, looking unbothered. “I did you all a favor.”

“I think Jean is going to do gifts next, so it might be a good time to go talk to Mikasa. I don’t think she got him a gift, so you could spare her any embarrassment by keeping her occupied.” Krista spoke surely, with a determined glint in her eye. Annie looked at her skeptically.

“Why are you so confident?”

Krista smiled. “Because I believe in you.”

Ymir coughed. “That makes just one of us.”

Ignoring Ymir, Annie sighed. This was exhausting. “Okay...well, thanks, I guess.”

Ymir put her arm around Krista and winked at Annie. “Go get her, Annie.”

Annie wrinkled her nose. “Please don’t ever wink at me again.”

Of course, Ymir made sure to wink at her one last time before strolling back to the party with Krista. Typical.

Walking slowly to a trash can to throw her empty cup out, Annie spotted Mikasa at one of the tables Hanji had set up, carefully cutting off a piece of a cinnamon roll she’d picked out with a a bright orange plastic fork and knife.

But the cinnamon roll proved too dense for the flimsy utensil, and two prongs of the fork broke clean off. Annie froze. This was her opening.

She quickly grabbed a new fork from the dessert table and put it down next to Mikasa’s plate. “Here.”

Mikasa looked up, holding the broken pieces of fork in her hand. “Thanks.”

Ignoring her fast beating heart, Annie held out her palm. “Here, I’ll throw it out.”

Mikasa smiled, handing her the sticky pieces of fork. “Okay. Thanks.”

If it’d earn her a smile like that from Mikasa, Annie swore to throw out her trash for her for the rest of her life.

Annie went to throw out the fork, catching Krista’s eye in the process. The blonde gave her a thumbs up, to which Annie nodded imperceptibly, just enough for Krista to see.

Things were going well. Granted, they’d barely said ten words to each other, but they weren’t the words of hate and spite that Annie imagined they would be. They were normal. Annie was being _normal_. She didn’t know how it was happening, but she was going to try her best to keep the momentum.

When she returned to Mikasa, she saw another broken fork next to her plate. “It broke again?”

Mikasa nodded. “Yeah. I guess it’s not strong enough.”

“I can go get you a real one from inside the shop then. Wait here,” Annie said, but as she made to leave Mikasa stood up.

Annie braced herself, ready for an onslaught of insults or a sneer. But instead, Mikasa fidgeted with her sleeve, looking at Annie. “I’ll come with you.”

 Oh. _Oh._

Oh shit.

Annie scratched her head, mind racing with what she’d say to her when they were alone in the other room. In here, the party noise was enough to fill out any awkward silences. But in there? It was all Annie.

_Lord help me._

Annie nodded, walking forward. She _couldn’t_ say no. She just had to roll with it. “Okay.”

The door clicked softly behind Mikasa as they made their way behind the counter, and Mikasa surprised Annie by opening the cabinet and finding the shop’s silverware. She hadn’t remembered showing her where it was.

 “How did you know it was there?” Annie asked, moving towards the espresso machine. She had a taste for a bit more caffeine and opted for a straight espresso shot..

“Krista showed me yesterday.” Mikasa said, walking over to Annie.

_That’s right._

Krista had trained her the other day. Annie had forgotten as she’d spent her entire day worried over today. Well, that was good. The more Krista showed her the less Annie had to do.

Even if Annie wanted to get on better terms with Mikasa, she was still lazy when it came to training.

“Oh. Did you do good?”

Mikasa shrugged. “She said I did.”

Annie almost laughed, thinking about how Mikasa had picked up everything she’d thrown at her on day one. “I’m sure you were perfect.”

Mikasa watched Annie as she measured out and tampered an espresso shot. “Maybe not perfect. But I tried my best.”

Annie nodded, fixing the portafilter to the machine to pull the shot. She was silent a few moments, watching to make sure it came out okay. It was a perfect 15.

“Good. You can handle everything tomorrow then” Annie said, remembering that they’d be training together. She turned around, cup in hand.

Mikasa crossed her arms, leaning back on the counter. “Sure.”

She kept staring at Annie, and Annie had not idea what to do. She _wanted_ to stare back at her. What kind of idiot wouldn’t want to look into Mikasa’s gorgeous eyes? But it was also just so….awkward. It wasn’t tension. No, Annie would know if the air felt tense around them. But she just felt so uncertain. Like, should she apologize for being mean? Or should she just not say anything? It might be dumb to bring up something that Mikasa wasn’t even worried about. Perhaps she’d already moved past Annie’s issues with her and Annie would be needlessly opening up on old wound. As she looked at pointedly at the ground instead of Mikasa, Mikasa broke the silence.

“Can you make me a coffee?”

Annie was surprised. She thought she had shown Mikasa how to do that, at least. “You can’t do it?”

Mikasa shook her head. “No, I can. It just tastes better when you make it.”

Well, that was new. Annie had gotten compliments on her lattes before but never just plain coffee. She didn’t think that was possible.

“It’s just black coffee though,” Annie said, setting down her own cup to rummage around for some pour-over filters. Finding luck in the cabinet right next to Mikasa, Annie then moved on to the shelves where they kept their coffee and selected the dark French roast for her.

It was a strong blend, and the robust, heavy scent of the almost-pitch black, shiny beans wafted across her nose. She measured some out and ground it fresh, setting the filled filter over the basket of the manual pour-over maker.

She heard Mikasa fix a pitcher of hot water for her and set it down next to the coffee grounds.

Mikasa watched intently as Annie turned the machine on, carefully pouring a thin stream of water in a circular motion onto the grounds without over-saturating them.

“Yes. But sometimes it can taste different depending on who makes it.”

Annie had never experienced that before. Then again, she always made her own coffee. She finished pouring the water and set the pitcher down, letting the machine work it’s magic. “Really? I didn’t know that.”

A part of Annie was worried that she was being dull. But she wanted to be safe rather than sorry. If she was her usual, harshly sarcastic self she might come off as too brash and insensitive. She was trying her damn hardest to be a softer Annie. She hoped it was paying off.

“Yeah. I’ll make you a coffee next time. Maybe you’ll see.” Mikasa hopped on the counter, sitting as she waited for the coffee to finish.

It was nearly done. Dark roasts were ideal for pour-overs and got finished faster than light roasts did. Annie remembered this from her training. Hange was obsessed with details, and Annie had collected way more knowledge about coffee than she’d ever need to know.

Though maybe it would come in handy tomorrow. She could tell Mikasa fun facts about coffee to impress her. But maybe that would be too over the top. She decided not to worry about it now, carefully extracting the coffee and pouring the dark liquid into the paper cup.

“You’re being nice to me today,” Mikasa said as Annie handed her the cup. She didn’t drink it right away, instead inhaling the earthy, sweet aroma of the roast.

So she’d noticed.

Annie shrugged, wanting to play it cool. She didn’t want to look too eager to please. “I am.”

Mikasa looked thoughtful, taking a tiny sip of her coffee. She let a few moments of silence pass before speaking again. “Any particular reason why? Are you going to put me through hell tomorrow or something?”

_Ah. She’s looking for an ulterior motive. As she should. She’s smart, and everything I’ve said and done to her up to this point was definitely mean-spirited._ _She wants to see if I have an angle. I’d do the same if our positions were reversed._

Annie rinsed out the pour-over maker and fished around in the cabinet below the sink for a rag to dry it. Finding one, she toweled off any remaining water from the machine. “No. Being mean gets exhausting. I’m tired. So you get nice Annie today. No promises she’ll stick around, though.”

“Hm. I like nice Annie,” Mikasa said, tapping the back of her foot idly against the counter.

“I’m not boring you?” Annie put away the items she’d used, brushing the coffee grounds on her hands on the back of her jeans.

Mikasa shook her head. “Not at all. This is kind of like our first real conversation, anyway. We can’t reveal our true selves yet.”

Annie almost smiled at that. This was why she liked Mikasa. She was weird but in the best possible way. Normal people would chat it up about their lives, getting to know each other easily without qualms. But Mikasa was cautious. She valued privacy, and genuity. Much like Annie.

“Agreed.” Annie picked up her drink and finished the last of it, chucking the empty cup into recycling. She’d have to remember to eat some of the sweets at the party or she’d get too jittery from the straight espresso.

Mikasa sipped her coffee contently, closing her eyes as she tasted it.

Annie wondered how it could possibly be that good.

Mikasa seemed at peace just sitting and drinking her coffee, looking around the room and occasionally at Annie.

Annie was leaning against the counter opposite her, and was doing the same thing. It was going well so far...Annie had timed her glances at Mikasa to happen when she saw the other girl looking elsewhere from her peripheral vision.

But then, inevitably, their eyes met.

_Shit._

Annie coughed, looking down in a hurry as she felt her cheeks color.

_Enough with the involuntary blushing already!_

She had to think of something to make her blush go away, so she thought of Jean in his graduation cap. It worked almost instantly.

When she looked up, Mikasa was still looking at her, her expression tranquil and thoughtful.

Annie’s initial reaction was to ask her why she kept staring at her.

But then she remembered that she was going to be non-combative today. And besides...she wasn’t really sure if she was ready for the answer yet. She couldn’t even control her cheeks from getting red. If Mikasa, god forbid, _complimented_ her, she just might combust into flames.

“We should probably go back in there,” Annie said, clearing her throat as she caught sight of the fork on the counter, remembering why they’d came in here in the first place.

Mikasa blinked, looking lost for just a moment before regaining her composure. “Oh. Yeah, I suppose. It’s just so nice and quiet in here. But you’re right. I need to cut that cinnamon roll.”

She picked up the fork and hopped off the counter, trailing behind as Annie brushed passed her to lead the way back into the party.

* * *

“There’s the only gift i really needed. Mikasa!”

Jean greeted the pair as they walked in, holding the door open for them.

“And thanks for the money, Annie.”

“Sure.” Annie peered over at his other unwrapped gifts and spotted a box of condoms. “Which one of you perverts got him those?”

“Hey! I’m not a pervert. Condoms are important. I don’t want him procreating,” Ymir yelled from across the room. Annie supposed she should have known.

“I’m gonna ignore that. But anyway, Mikasa, I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go laser tagging with us. We’re going in a bit but I think Hanji forgot to include you in the group text.” Jean said.

Damn it. Annie had forgotten about that. She’d been looking forward to going home and watching TV.

“Oh. I can’t today, I have a lot of homework. But thank you,” Mikasa said apologetically.

Jean smiled. “No worries. I’m just glad you came today. Can I get you anything to drink?”

Mikasa held up her coffee. “No thanks. Annie made me coffee.”

Jean raised an eyebrow. “Annie made you coffee? You must be special. She never does tha--”

Annie cut him off, ignoring Mikasa’s surprised look. She wasn’t about to sit here while Jean exposed her. It was true - she never made coffee for staff members. Those lazy bitches could do it themselves. But Mikasa was an exception.

She turned away from him, speaking quickly. “Yeah, well, anyway, we have a cinnamon roll to attend to so bye.”

“You have to do what?” Jean’s eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. Mikasa held up her fork to clarify (it didn’t help)  and followed Annie back to the table.

Annie was sure he knew she was acting weird but prayed he didn’t call her out on it, at least not in front of Mikasa.

Mikasa sat down next to her and began cutting the cinnamon roll. It worked much more easily with the real fork, and in a few moments Mikasa had sectioned off a perfect tiny triangle of sticky, sweet goodness.

But instead of eating it herself, she held it out to Annie. “Here. For you.”

Annie blinked. “What?”

Mikasa moved the fork towards her again. “Eat this. I watched you drink straight espresso. You need something else in your stomach.”

“I could just get my own cinnamon roll though,” Annie said, feeling her heartbeat quicken. This was something that _couples_ did. Which made Annie’s mind launch into a montage of her and Mikasa doing other couple things, like holding hands, and watching TV together, and carving pumpkins and---

Mikasa lightly pressed the cinnamon roll to Annie’s lips.

“No need. I’m sharing with you.”

_What the hell! Who does this??_

Annie was frozen in fear, her mouth closed tightly as she looked at Mikasa with what could probably be recognized as utter and complete shock.

“Oh god. Eat the damn cinnamon roll, Annie!” Ymir joined the pair, shoving Annie.

That was the magic switch.

Annie opened her mouth and Mikasa _fed her the fucking cinnamon roll piece_. At this point, Annie was running completely on auto-pilot and chewed mechanically, hoping she didn’t choke to death. To say she was out of her element would be the biggest understatement of the century.

“I apologize for our dear friend Annie. She’s such a weirdo.” Ymir rolled her eyes.

Annie swallowed, incredulous. She couldn’t help it anymore- soft Annie was turned off and normal Annie was activated. She nodded at Mikasa.  “Me? She’s the weird one. She fed me a cinnamon roll! I don’t even know her that well!”

Mikasa shrugged. “Maybe it could be seen as weird. I see it as me making sure you eat something.”

Annie crossed her arms. “It’s weird.”

In response, Mikasa cut off a piece for herself and ate it nonchalantly. “If you say so.”

Annie was adamant. “I do.”

Mikasa cut another piece off and held it out to Annie. Annie narrowed her eyes at her, taking the fork this time and eating it herself.

Mikasa smiled.

_Cute._

_Cute weirdo._

“Is everyone ready to go?” Hanji said loudly. “We’ll come back here afterwards, but they only had an afternoon reservation so I had to take it.”

“I’d like to make a toast first! Before Mikasa has to leave.” Jean poured himself a glass of lemon-lime soda and held it proudly.

“I’d like to say thank you to Hanji for throwing this party, and thank you to everyone for the gifts and for coming. The past couple years have been so much fun here, and I’m going to miss you all. Especially you, Mikasa.” Jean spoke wistfully, casting a forlorn glance at her.

Much to Annie’s amusement, Mikasa did not make eye contact with him and continued eating her cinnamon roll.

Realizing that he wasn’t going to get her attention, Jean cleared his throat. “I, uh. I also want to say that no matter where I end up going for school and for work, I’ll always come back here for coffee. Long live The Sunny Bean!”

He held up his glass and chugged it, while Ymir and Historia destroyed everyone’s ear drums with party horns and Sasha yelling.

Annie noticed that Hanji didn’t join in, instead wearing a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

_Odd._

“And when we come back...PINATA!” Sasha screamed, and Annie winced. Why were they all so _loud._

As Mikasa finished up her cinnamon roll, Jean came back and stood next to the table. “Are you sure you don’t want to come?”

She nodded. “I’m sure. I work tomorrow so I need to get my homework done today.”

“You’re so responsible,” Jean said adoringly, shaking his head.

“Are you over here for a reason?” Annie interjected.

“Just wanted to say bye to Mikasa. And that it was an absolute pleasure knowing her.”

Annie looked at him boredly. “You’ve known her for like, three days.”

He smiled. “No matter. The impression she leaves is a strong one.”

Annie glowered at him, getting fed up with his flattery.

Mikasa stood up then, holding her arms out. “I’ll give you a goodbye hug. Since I didn’t get you a gift.”

“What?!” Annie struggled to hide the alarm in her voice.

_Mikasa is going to hug him? What the fuck! He doesn’t deserve a hug from her! What if I want a fucking hug from her? She fed me a cinnamon roll, not him!_

“You can have one too if you want,” Mikasa offered coolly.

But the possibility of _actually_ hugging Mikasa scared the living shit out of her and Annie waved her off, shaking her head.

“No, I don’t want one. That’s weird.” Annie still couldn’t hide her disbelief.

“You told me that already. But suit yourself. Bye, Jean.” Jean stood completely still, in a state of shock as Mikasa gave him a quick hug before picking up her purse.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then, Annie. Thanks for the coffee.” She gave Annie a quick smile and disappeared out the door.

 Annie stood staring at the door she’d left out of, wondering what in the hell had just happened. Wondering how in the hell Mikasa could just be so... _unbothered_.

“Hey, are those two alive over there?” Annie heard Sasha yell, and Krista came over to check on them.

“Um...what did she do to you guys?”

Jean shook his head slowly. “She...she changed my life.”

“Uh...okay. And you, Annie? Did everything go well?” Krista said, pulling on her sleeve.

“Yeah. I guess. She’s just really...I don’t know.” Annie scratched the back of her head. She looked at Krista. “I don’t know.”

She really didn’t. Nothing had gone the way she’d thought it would. Which was a good thing, seeing as how she’d thought it was going to go terrible. Mikasa was certainly...unpredictable. Cute, perfect, and unpredictable. And weird.

“Well, that’s better than you hating her like before!” Krista said cheerily. “Now are you ready to get your laser tag on?”

Annie looked at her tiredly. “Not really.”

Hanji’s voice rang out amidst the chatter. “Everyone, I have an announcement.”

“Please don’t tell me laser tag is canceled” Sasha said worriedly.

Hanji shook her head. “No, it’s not. But I have something that I need to say because I owe it to you all to be honest.”

Annie wondered what it could be. Perhaps this is why Hanji had been less than her enthusiastic self earlier during Jean’s toast.

Hanji took a deep breath, gathering everyone around her.

“Even though today is a day of celebration, I must share with you a burden that I cannot carry alone any longer. It is with great sorrow that I tell you this: The Sunny Bean will be closing.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It seems patronizing to apologize for the extremely long delay in this story, so instead I'll just say thank you to those who have still stuck around waiting for an update. I had really bad writer's block for this chapter so I'm glad I can get it out of the way and move forward. I also have been working hard in school and made honor roll last semester so a combination of those two things are the cause of the delay. Regardless, thank you for reading. Hopefully next update won't take me so damn long


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